Justice Reform Initiative

We're getting in early to remind you that life in prison isn't like the movies 🎬 - it entrenches disadvantage and makes future offending and a return to prison more likely, not less. So to mark Gravy Day tomorrow, why don't you check out our new position paper outlining how the over-incarceration of adults in Australian prisons is harmful, expensive and ineffective, and the evidence for alternative approaches. https://loom.ly/QVb_PGE

🌟Pay it forward this Christmas 🌟 To further increase access to the Reintegration Puzzle Conference in 2025, we have introduced the Lived Experience Bursary Program to support people with lived experience of incarceration to join in this unique gathering. Any donation of just $2 or more is tax deductible and will ensure a diverse range of bursaries can be offered! Don’t just take it from us – click through the images below to hear from some of our 2024 recipients. Visit our website to donate: https://loom.ly/hKxgE5U

Police are often the gatekeepers of the criminal justice system - but an over-reliance on policing, tough-on-crime approaches and discriminatory behaviour can accelerate the number of people being pulled into the system who then risk becoming entrenched within it. Evidence-backed positive policing approaches and alternative first-responder systems can help build safer communities and reduce incarceration. Download our position paper to learn more: https://loom.ly/Vv3oiUw

The Justice Reform Initiative was honoured to receive The Fitzgerald Justice Award at the 2024 NT Human Rights Awards, held this month in Darwin. Jailing is failing in the NT. We are incredibly proud of the work we do across the region, led by our dedicated NT advocacy and campaign coordinators, Rocket Bretherton and Kirsten Wilson. Standing alongside many sector organisations and community initiatives, we work to shine a light on the systemic failures and advocate for alternatives to custody that work— ensuring people with lived experience are included at every stage of our advocacy. Read more about the awards here: https://loom.ly/Mc_KxLw Photo: Kirsten Wilson, Executive Director Dr Mindy Sotiri, Chair Robert Tickner AO, and Rocket Bretherton with Kings Narrative in Alice Springs.

Access to effective and culturally meaningful support before and after release from prison is critical to preventing a cycle of reincarceration. To build a justice system that is focused on keeping people out of prison, we need to build re-entry roads back into communities and models of wrap-around support for those leaving the justice system. Download our new position paper to discover the pathways towards a better justice system: https://loom.ly/ds5pxPM

Evidence shows that diversionary, solution-focused courts outside of the traditional model both reduce the frequency and severity of reoffending, and link people into services, supports, and programs that are better able to address the drivers of justice system involvement. The Justice Reform Initiative supports expanding diversionary and solution-focused court options throughout Australia, particularly in regional and remote areas. Through evidenced-based alternatives, disadvantages and the drivers of criminal activity can be better addressed to help build a safer community. Read our position paper to learn more: https://loom.ly/2HTZCK8

The inquest into the death of Cleveland Dodd, WA’s first recorded death in youth detention, highlights once again how broken multiple systems are. The WA Government must abandon the position of defending the state of youth justice in WA and commit to Coroner Philip Urquhart's recommendation that “Unit 18 should be closed as a matter of urgency”. It is clear we need to dramatically shift what detention should look like in WA and how it can better protect children, particularly those with diverse and complex needs. Read more: https://loom.ly/J3GMk3w

In Australia, gaining employment is often a major barrier for people exiting a period of imprisonment. As Justice Reform Initiative Executive Director tells the ABC: "All of the evidence shows us that employment is one of the key factors that reduces the likelihood of people coming back to prison. If we want to reduce the number of people coming back to prison, we really need to look at what happens post-release." Read more: https://loom.ly/-d7h7qE

PSA: The ‘Our Voices Unlocked’ webinar series is back! This Tuesday, Tina McPhee will be joined by Tahlia Isaac, founder of Strong. Empowered. Living Free & Project:herSELF, and Felicia Zsha' Mirzze, to discuss re-entry from women’s perspectives, working as lived experience advocates and how that interplays with being mums, partners, daughters and workers. Tune in this Tuesday, December 10, at 9:30am AEDT. Register here: https://loom.ly/eb2mdJE Or head straight to chat! https://loom.ly/MTKBqHQ

Justice Reform Initiative Executive Director, Dr Mindy Sotiri, spoke on Rural Queensland Today with Ben Dobbin this week about the key concerns of the rushed ‘Making Qld Safer Bill’, which is not going to achieve what it sets out to do and is not going to make Queensland safer. “Of course communities should feel safe and this should be a priority for government, but we need to look at what the evidence says works to build safer communities… we need to untangle that idea from simply locking people up, because if locking people up was working to reduce crime then Queensland would be one of the safest places in Australia and it is clearly not. Queensland already locks up more children than anywhere else, it already has some of the toughest legislative settings in Australia, but it’s not working, and these new laws won’t work either.” Listen to the full episode: https://loom.ly/VQwfFCk