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Law campaigner calls for redefining of justice system to turn ‘international scandal around’
In a new publication, an eminent law reform campaigner is seeking to redefine the justice system and its overall treatment of Australian prisons to ensure that it turns the “international scandal around” by housing only those who pose a risk.
Naomi Neilson
Reflecting on 40 years in the criminal justice system, including as a chaplain in a Melbourne prison, law reform campaigner and Deakin University fellow Professor Peter Norden AO has called for reforms to be implemented across Australia’s justice system to reduce prison populations by at least 50 per cent over the next decade.
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In the publication, Professor Norden “lays the foundation” for significant change of direction for the future of Australia’s criminal justice system. He said there needs to be a movement towards justice reinvestment and redefining the role of prisons as a place to house only offenders who pose a risk to the wider community.
This starts with turning around the “international scandal” of mass incarceration of Indigenous people. Professor Norden commented: “Increasing the age jurisdiction of the criminal courts from 10 to 14 years would be an important first step in reducing the shocking rate of over-imprisonment of adult Indigenous prisons.”
In the publication, Professor Norden touches on the critical issues of over-imprisonment of Indigenous children and adults and the failures by each successive government across Australia. He said it is time for leaders to “explore new paths” in their ongoing pursuit of justice and ensuring greater community safety.
Among his reform recommendations, Professor Norden has called for fully implementing and funding the provisions of the national disability scheme to ensure disability is not a path towards imprisonment. He has also asked that there be major increases in social housing to protect the most vulnerable in the justice system.
Professor Norden adds that the system should include a network of bail hostel accommodations so that homeless Australians, including women escaping domestic violence, are not remanded in custody for minor offences.
“Let us hope that the criminal justice system of the future will be found on evidence, not on a misguided model based on our past as a penal settlement,” he said.
