Justice Reform Initiative Media Release, 26 August 2024
The new Northern Territory Government has promised a raft of law and order legislation as a priority for its first days in office, but will it make Territorians safer?
Justice Reform Initiative executive director Dr Mindy Sotiri said that a number of measures proposed by the Country Liberal Party would increase the number of people in prison in the NT, entrenching disadvantage and making future reoffending more likely.
“While we recognise the importance of focusing policy efforts on crime prevention, the overwhelming evidence from both Australia and around the world shows that prison fails to rehabilitate and fails in improving community safety,” she said.
“The solutions to reducing crime are not found in legislative reforms like restricting bail, but are in the community. It takes real investment and hard work at the grassroots level with individuals, families and communities to address the drivers of crime.
“As a signatory to the Aboriginal Justice Agreement, we urge the CLP to commit to fully implementing this and taking real steps to reduce imprisonment of Aboriginal Territorians.
“Concerningly, many of the legislative changes proposed by the CLP will have the opposite effect. The evidence shows that so-called ‘tough on crime’ measures like mandatory sentencing do nothing to address the root causes of crime and will in fact increase the likelihood of further offending, making communities less safe.
“Further restricting access to bail and making breach of bail an offence will push more people into the NT’s already overcrowded prisons. There is clear evidence from other jurisdictions who have introduced similar reforms and found that they did not reduce crime, but only served to increase the number of people in prison.
“The Northern Territory already imprisons more people than other states and territories but it’s clear that this has not made the community safer.
“Territorians deserve a smart approach to crime, based on evidence – not election slogans. We hope to engage further with members of the new government to work together for a stronger and safer NT, based on evidence of what works to prevent and reduce crime.”
The Justice Reform Initiative has recently published a series of discussion papers on key reform areas including bail, as well as reports outlining the success of evidence-based alternatives to prison.
Media contact: Pia Akerman 0412 346 746
The Initiative respectfully acknowledges and supports the current and longstanding efforts of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to reduce the numbers of Indigenous people incarcerated in Australia and, importantly, the leadership role which Indigenous-led organisations continue to play on this issue. We also acknowledge the work of many other individuals and organisations seeking change, such as those focused on the rate of imprisonment for women, people with mental health issues, people with disability and others.