Justice Reinvestment in the ACT

Justice Reinvestment is about developing a smarter, more cost-effective approach to improving criminal justice outcomes by reducing crime, improving public safety and strengthening communities.

The Justice Reinvestment Strategy supports the Ninth Parliamentary Agreement commitment to reducing recidivism by 25% by 2025. As a plan for reducing recidivism is developed it will draw on the ACT evidence base developed as part of the Justice Reinvestment Strategy.

The Justice Reinvestment Strategy has been developed by the Justice and Community Safety Directorate (JACS) working closely with a range of government and community stakeholders, over a four year period (2014-2018), to identify drivers of crime and criminal justice costs and then develop and implement new ways of reinvesting scarce resources – both in the community and within the prison system – in a way that results in a more cost-beneficial impact on public safety.

A critical step to justice reinvestment is identifying how much money can be saved or spending averted across the justice system in the longer-term by reducing prison population numbers (the most expensive part of the justice system). The second step is using the money saved to make changes that prevent people from entering or re-entering the justice system. This includes:

• diversions from court;
• community corrections programs;
• targeted education responses for disengaging students;
• specialist mental health services; and
• drug and alcohol responses.

The diagram below represents these possible points of reinvestment across the justice system.

The ACT Justice Reinvestment Startegy: three steps - three pathways

A three by three approach has been developed to underpin the ACT Justice Reinvestment Strategy. The three steps are:

The three pathways are:

There have been two broad streams of work to develop the ACT Justice Reinvestment Strategy.

1. building an evidence base to support decisions about reducing recidivism and diverting offenders, and those at risk of becoming offenders, from the justice system.
2. establishing and evaluating justice programs and trials –  the key focus has been on  trials that  address the overrepresentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the justice system.

These streams form part of the multi-faceted approach to generate recommendations developed in the ACT and suppoRted by the Australian Institute of Criminology literature review.

Justice Reinvestment and Reducing Recidivism by 25% by 2025

The approach created in the Justice Reinvestment Strategy underpins the Government’s commitment to reduce recidivism by 25 percent by 2025.

Further information about JR initiatives and trials will be made available on line shortly.

Building Communities Not Prisons- Reducing Recidivism and Justice Reinvestment Forum 2018

The Building Communities Not Prisons - Justice Reinvestment and Reducing Recidivism Forum 2018 will unite national and international participants in driving the conversation about reducing recidivism and justice reinvestment in Australia.

Information about the Forum will be made available online shortly.