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Children and Young People

Jailing is failing children. Most children who enter the youth justice system (including children as young as 10) come from backgrounds where they have already experienced disadvantage and trauma, with a significant number also having experienced out of home care. Prison increases disadvantage and disconnection. Children in the youth justice system need family and community support, education, and life opportunities, not punishment that compounds disconnection and disadvantage.

Jailing Is Failing

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People

Jailing is failing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It is more than 30 years since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. Although governments accepted almost all of the Commission’s...
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Children and Young People

Jailing is failing children. Most children who enter the youth justice system (including children as young as 10) come from backgrounds where they have already experienced disadvantage and trauma, with a significant...
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Women

Jailing is failing women. In Australia the vast majority of incarcerated women have themselves survived crime in the form gendered violence. This includes many women who have survived family and domestic violence. Women’s incarceration...
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People with Mental Health Conditions and Cognitive Disability

Jailing is also failing those with mental health conditions and cognitive disability.  People with disability and mental health conditions including children, are overrepresented across the criminal justice systems in Australia, and are...
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Taxpayers

Jailing is failing Australian taxpayers. In addition to being harmful and ineffective, imprisonment is also extremely expensive. The cost of adult incarceration in Australia is more than $6.3 billion per annum. The cost...
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People Who Experience Disadvantage

Jailing is failing the most disadvantaged. The majority of people incarcerated in Australia come from circumstances where they have experienced multiple and intersecting disadvantages. There are eight social determinants that increase the likelihood...
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Victims of Crime

Jailing is failing victims of crime. Victims of crime frequently call for better support alongside better access to justice. Victims of crime also often advocate for processes and responses that genuinely address...
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As a Deterrent

Jailing is failing as a deterrent. 61% of all people in prison in Australia have been in prison before. There has been a dramatic increase in the numbers of people in prison with...
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Rehabilitation

Jailing is failing in terms of rehabilitation. In order to break the cycle of incarceration, people need access to support services that address the drivers of contact with the criminal justice system. People need...
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