Justice Reform Initiative Media Release, 7 October 2024
The NT Government’s announcement that police will have greater stop and search powers, including authority to enter schools to wand children for knives, is a worrying sign of policy development without an evidence base.
Justice Reform Initiative executive director Dr Mindy Sotiri said the plan was unlikely to prevent crime and indicated a further escalation of the Government’s fervour for ‘tough on crime’ policies which made for good headlines but lacked careful consideration.
“We need to ensure that policies to control crime and improve community safety are based on evidence, not emotion,” Dr Sotiri said.
“This announcement to expand stop and search powers to allow police to wand at more public places – including schools and on public transport – appears to be a sign of a Government taking advantage of legislative opportunities because they exist, not because of any underlying need.
“There is no evidence from jurisdictions where wanding laws have been trialled to show that this deters knife carrying or reduces incidences of knife crime. Increasing police powers in this way comes with a significant risk that Aboriginal people and other populations who are already over-policed, criminalised and over-incarcerated will be targeted and more likely to be drawn into the criminal justice system.
“The research overwhelmingly shows that expanding police powers with things like wanding will not ultimately make the community safer. Over-policing of children – especially in places like schools that are supposed to be safe and focused on education – will likely have a negative effect, particularly for communities who are already over-policed.
“There is ample evidence that policy approaches that favour over-policing of young people are ineffective at reducing crime. Early contact with police can in fact increase the likelihood of future justice system involvement and also lead to increased hostility between police and young people, when we should be trying to build strong respectful relationships.”
“If the Government really wants to get serious about addressing crime, they need to dramatically shift their policy focus to address the drivers of offending. Effective crime prevention requires moving away from adopting outdated and failed policies that deliberately seek to increase the reach of the criminal justice system and will increase the numbers of people incarcerated in the NT.
“The Territory’s prisons and courts are at breaking point, but we can’t police or imprison our way out of a crime problem. We need to put our energy into evidence-based policy and do the hard work on the deeper issues relating to disadvantage, mental health, alcohol and other drug use and disengagement.”
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.