ISSUES
 
 
CAIR (Coalition Against Inappropriate Remand)                                                        
 

As at 30 June 2006 almost 75% of the young people in prison in Queensland were on remand - the outcome of a continuing upward trend over recent years. The Queensland Government has acknowledged that imprisonment on remand may have negative consequences for a young person. Imprisoning young people is expensive - for both tax payers and young people.  Imprisoning young people who have not faced trial, or those not charged with a serious violent offence, is unjust and in contravention of Queensland’s human rights obligations.

 

Youth Affairs Network of Queensland (YANQ) and the Coalition Against Inappropriate Remand (CAIR) have undertaken an analyses of factors leading to high rates of imprisonment of young people on remand in Queensland, and recommends means to reduce the numbers whilst simultaneously enhancing public safety and saving tax dollars. Current policies and practices are unnecessarily punitive and wasteful. CAIR proposes concrete strategies which would enable Queensland to reorient its juvenile justice policies and reduce the overuse of imprisonment, particularly amongst young people on remand. 
 
For more information on this issue visit: www.yanq.org.au/our-work/projects/remand or contact Siyavash Doostkhah at director@yanq.org.au or (07) 3844 7713.
 
 
CIRCLES OF SUPPORT                                                                                                
 
Aim: To substantially reduce the risk of future sexual victimisation of community members by assisting and supporting released individuals in community integration and leading responsible, productive accountable lives.
 
The program commenced in Canada in mid 1990s and grew out of principles of restorative justice which seek to involve, and work for, the benefit of the victim, the offender and the wider community.  Similar projects have been seeded in many other countries and all report very positive responses and a drastic reduction in recidivism for the sex offenders who are supported in this way.
 
Prison Fellowship has commenced supporting one offender in this way, and is seeking to work with the Department of Corrections to set up a more structured program. 
 
For an example please see here, or for more information on this issue contact David Way at dway@prisonfellowship.org.au
 
 
DPSOA (Dangerous Prisoners Sexual Offenders Act)                                                    

The DP(SO)A 2003 (Dangerous Persons [Sexual Offenders] Act 2003) was introduced to Queensland for the purpose of indefinite detention or strict supervision for 5 to 25 years of convicted sex offenders who have completed their full time sentence, yet have neither been accused nor found guilty of further crime.

Following is a relevant excerpt from a dissenting judgment of Kirby J in Fardon v Attorney-General (Qld) [2004] HCA 46. In that case, his Honour stated at [162]:

“… by Australian constitutional law, punishment as such is reserved to the judiciary for breaches of the law. An order of imprisonment as punishment can therefore only be made by a court following proof of the commission of a criminal offence, established beyond reasonable doubt where the charge is contested, in a fair trial at which the accused is found guilty by an independent court of the offence charged. Here there has been no offence; no charge; no trial. Effectively, the presumption of innocence has been removed."

 Please click here to view the full Analysis and Policy Paper on Sex Offending Changing Community Attitudes.

The Facts are, a DP(SO)A order typically includes a considerable limitation of sites where a recipient may live or work or attend, a curfew on times allowed out from home and the wearing of an electronic monitor (ankle bracelet), constant surveillance, random visits and random breath and urine tests 24/7.

DP(SO)A orders are so administered that the recipients of the orders are unjustly frustrated in their honest endeavours to reintegrate with the community and take up worthy employment, accommodation or support group membership as the recipient may manage to arrange.

The Vision is to include support groups and Department of Corrections in the refinement of the current situation such that the DP(SO)A recipients are less restricted in their return to a meaningful and productive life in the community.

 For more information contact: Roger Vaughan at dpsoacrisissupport@gmail.com

 (for Sex Offending analysis paper, and more, please see here )
REDUCING INDIGENOUS IMPRISONMENT                                                                      
 
A key theme of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (1991) was that imprisonment should be a sanction of last resort. Today Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people continue to be incarcerated at alarming rates. In 1991, Aboriginal people made up 14% of Australia’s adult prison population. In June 2005 it was 22% and by 2008 this figure had jumped to 26%.  Solutions for the excessive incarceration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people must be sought and enacted in the community – not in prisons – and must address the underlying determinants of incarceration and re-incarceration.
 
Please contact Kitty Carra at kittycarra@gmail.com or office@antarqld.org.au or ph ANTaR Qld (07) 3844 9800
 
 
VICTIM-OFFENDER RECONCILIATION                                                                         
 
Sycamore Tree Program: This Program is an initiative of Prison Fellowship International, and is run in many countries across the world.  It is a voluntary restorative justice program which brings together a panel of (usually about) six inmates and the same number of crime victims over eight two-hour sessions.  The victims attending these meetings are not the particular victims of the inmates.  The program includes large and small group discussions, victim/offender interactions, role-plays, and readings that create a contemporary retelling of the biblical story of Zaccheus, a man who admits to his offending and sets about to restore to his victims what he has defrauded them of.  This program seeks to increase victim awareness on the part of offenders by giving victims the opportunity to explain the effects of crime on their lives.  It also encourages offenders to take responsibility for their offending, and benefit has been reported equally for offenders and victims.  The program reports healing and a willingness to change offending behaviour. 
 
For more information on this issue contact David Way at dway@prisonfellowship.org.au
 
 
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