Prison boffins gather in Darwin to tackle ‘revolving door’ of crime
MORE than 200 experts are gathering in Darwin to tackle the ‘revolving door of reoffending’ issue
Crime and Court
Don't miss out on the headlines from Crime and Court. Followed categories will be added to My News.
MORE than 200 experts on Australia’s prison system will gather in Darwin on Tuesday morning to tackle the “revolving door of reoffending” that could see the nation’s jail population crest 100,000 within the next few decades.
The NT’s five-year recidivism rate is 2 per cent higher than the national average at 57 per cent and conference convener Joe Graffam said Australia’s criminal justice system was in need of an urgent rethink.
TOP STORIES
EARTHQUAKE felt in Darwin was the biggest in over a decade
DARWIN suffers through coldest night in 8 years
OZ Lotto $80m jackpot wannabe winners must read this
GUNNER says BDR racism claims untrue
‘CUTS will cost teachers’, public schools warn
The Deakin University psychology professor said jails were increasingly used as places to warehouse people facing poverty, homelessness, mental illness, cognitive impairment and substance abuse.
“Australia’s growing prison population is an enormous issue, particularly the over imprisonment of our indigenous people,” Prof Graffam said.
“There are more than 40,000 people locked up in Australia today — the figure was fewer than 10,000 in 1980 and, if we keep going the way we are, the prison population will be over 100,000 in a few decades, because the rate of imprisoning people just keeps increasing.”
AMAZING HEADPHONES OFFER
Prof Graffam said “the vast majority” of Australia’s prisoners were not dangerous criminals but serving sentences of less than 12 months for nonviolent crimes associated with poverty, mental illness or drug use.
“Building new jails will not help solve this crisis — we must think critically about how we can stop people recycling through the prison system,” he said.
“People are often released to homelessness and joblessness, there are no offender-specific community services to support them, and they are often not welcome within generic services.
DIGITAL members only: Your chance to win $20,000 in exclusive +Rewards competition
“We need to bust the myth that it’s ‘soft on crime’ to give people services when they get released, actually this is one of the best ways we can increase community safety, and reduce reoffending.”
The conference runs until Friday.
NAMED: List of the NT’s drug dealers
FROM an ex-model to a former soldier, these are some of the suburban drug dealers who plied their trade in streets and homes throughout Darwin before the law finally caught up. Find out who is on the list.
Break-ins becoming the ‘ new normal’: Store owner
THE co-owner of the Batchelor General Store says break-ins are becoming the new normal after the business was broken into twice on two consecutive days