More locked up in WA but rate of crime the same

Western Australia, the state that incarcerates Indigenous people at the highest rate in the nation, has dramatically increased its prison population despite no discernible increase in crime.

The Justice Reform Initiative’s report published on Wednesday finds the number of people in WA prisons has increased by 29 per cent since 2012. Picture: Zak Simmonds

Western Australia, the state that incarcerates Indigenous people at the highest rate in the nation, has dramatically increased its prison population despite no discernible increase in crime.

This is one of the findings of an assessment of WA justice and prisons policies that calls on the McGowan government to invest heavily in early intervention and programs proven to ­reduce the likelihood of a person committing a crime or reoffending.

The Justice Reform Initiative’s report published on Wednesday finds the number of people in WA prisons has increased by 29 per cent since 2012. In WA, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people make up 3.3 per cent of the population but 40 per cent of the state’s prison population. In the national agreement on Closing the Gap signed in 2020, all governments and a coalition of Indigenous organisations committed to reduce the rate at which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults are jailed by 15 per cent by 2031. This is currently not working; the incarceration rate for ­Indigenous adults is increasing.

However, Australia is on track to meet its target to reduce the imprisonment rate for Indigenous children and adolescents by 30 per cent by 2031.

Nationally, the incarceration rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians aged 10 to 17 has ­fallen faster than ­projected – it was 31.9 per 10,000 Indigenous young people in 2018-19 and 23.2 per 10,000 ­Indigenous young people in 2020-21.

“It is increasingly clear that in Western Australia, the rise in ­imprisonment is not driven by ­severity of offending, or crime, but rather by systemic failings and policy and legislative choices that end up funnelling people, mainly people who suffer disadvantage, unnecessarily into imprisonment,” the Justice Reform Initiative report states.

“Each contact with the criminal justice system, as it currently operates, increases the likelihood of further interaction.

“Almost two-thirds of people in prison in Western Australia have been in prison before – and this trend is rising. In fact, the known prior imprisonment rate rose from 57.3 per cent of all ­prisoners in 2012 to 63.3 per cent in 2021.”

The Justice Reform Initiative’s members include former judges, senior lawyers and Indigenous leaders who advocate for the rollout of early intervention and prevention programs that have reduced crime in some populations by 31 per cent.

This includes bail support ­programs shown to have reduced reoffending by up to 33 per cent.

Figures published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics for the September quarter of 2022 show the incarceration rate for ­Aboriginal and Torres Strait ­Islander West Australians is higher than in any other state or territory at 3857 per 100,000 adults, compared to 203 per 100,000 adults for non-Indigenous West Australians.