Whilst in the USA the impetus to create Justice Reinvestment arose as a solution to ever increasing and unsustainable costs of running prisons, the drive to implement Justice Reinvestment in Australia is principally to address the gross over-incarceration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples . Did you know that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are 15 times more likely to be in jail than non-Indigenous Australians? Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are massively overrepresented in the criminal justice system of Australia. Aboriginal people represent only 3% of the total population, yet more than 28% of Australia’s prison population are Aboriginal.
48% of all children who are incarcerated in Western Australia are Aboriginal. Justice Reinvestment is a new term in Australia. The key principle of Justice Reinvestment is a data-driven approach to reduce corrections and related criminal justice spending and reinvest savings in strategies designed to increase public safety. The concept of Justice Reinvestment was developed in the 1990s by the U.S.A. Council of State Governments as a means of easing the pressure on State finances. A consequence of this effort to save costs was the realisation that keeping people out of jail in the first place produced the greatest savings, and with the addition of the targeted provision of social services where they were most needs, actually reduced crime rates. Justice Reinvestment Australia advocates for the implementation of Justice Reinvestment across all Australian States and Territories as a practical means of reducing the incarceration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and promoting community services and safety.
