Reducing Spending on Police and Corrections Through Crime Prevention and Justice Reinvestment

Running head: CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Reducing Spending on Police and Corrections Through Crime Prevention and Justice
Reinvestment
Author Name(s)
Institution
Note

CRIMINAL JUSTICE 1
Abstract
There has been a great rise in the level of incarceration in Australia. Despite the fact
incarceration is one approach of keeping people who pose a risk to security in control, the
increase in the number of prisoners has caused a high demand for funding to an extent of the
whole practice becoming uneconomical. Justice Reinvestment is an approach that aims to reduce
the rate of incarceration by investing in the communities where most of the offenders come from,
and where they go back after their release. Likewise, crime prevention aims to prevent people
from breaking the law. Many scholars and policymakers have been discussing the two concepts
as possible solutions to the increasing number of prisoners. The aim of this essay is to bring a
more understanding of the concepts and explain a way in which the two can be a solution to
Australia’s rising rate of incarceration.
Keywords: Incarceration, Criminal Justice System, Justice Reinvestment, Juvenile,
Imprisonment

CRIMINAL JUSTICE 2
Australia has experienced a great increase in the rate of incarceration for some years. The
increase has also been parallel to the demand for funding to cater for the increasing number of
prisoners. Apart from that, there has been an increasing number of re-offenders, increased rates
of custodial sentences on the breach of the parole, and increased rates of juvenile offenses. A
response to this problem has seen with some scholars, legal officers, government agencies as
well as private organizations contemplating the idea of crime prevention and justice
reinvestment. This essay aims to provide an overview of the understanding of both JR and crime
prevention. The paper will explain the concepts of the two approaches, draw their rationale from
different areas such as the principle of proportionality, and also look at the implementation of
these approaches in other countries.
Problems in the Australian Policing and Correcting
Australian prisons are expensive, and the spending is growing at a rapid rate. An analysis
of the data from 2010 to 2015 showed that the spending in Australian prisons has even exceeded
the average amount in OECD, the 12.5% (Bushnell, 2017). On the part of the police, the report
by (Productivity Commission, 2017) showed that the number of police has reached 295 per
100,000 in one year, that is between 2015 and 2016. Besides, in some sections like the Northern
Territory, this level has grown to over 700 per 100,000 (Productivity Commission, 2017).
An inference from this report demonstrates that Australia’s policing level has grown
higher than any of the common law countries. With the same number increasing, the country has
also increased the number of operational police staff from 89.5% in the year 2009-10 to 91% for
the year2015-16 (Productivity Commission, 2017). The increase in the number of police had a
notable impact on the security of the country. The latest report from the (Australian Bureau of

CRIMINAL JUSTICE 3
Statistics., 2017) showed a six percent increase in the number of adult prisoners in corrective
services. This number represents an increase from 38,845 to 41,202 prisoners between 30 June
2016 and 30 June 2017. A look at the national imprisonment also showed a four percent increase
in the year between 2016 and 2017, and this rate represents 208 to 216 prisoners for every
100,000 adult’s population. One problem with this growth is that it is causing a serious issue
such as prison overcrowding, which also translates to a demand for funding. For instance, the
analysis of (Productivity Commission, 2017) reported an expenditure of almost $15.3 billion
between 2014-2015.
Many commentators believe that the punitive penal policies, the parole reforms, and
sentencing could be one of the main contributors to the rising number of incarcerations
(Australia Senate Parliament, Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee, &
Wright, 2013). Others such as (Cunneen, 2011) attributed the rising number to the frequent
imprisonments, and their long length of stay where prisoners are sentences for long terms of
service. On the other hand, some authors believe that factors that are either social or economic
could be some of the contributors to the increased crime rate, which should be addressed
alongside other approaches of the justice system (Liu, Song, & Xiu, 2016).
The answers to the current problem of Australian policing and correction can be found in
the human right principles of proportionality (POP). The obvious reason why the answer can be
found in the POP it’s because much the police work involves a limitation of one or more human
rights. For instance, arrests, criminal procedures, and incarceration limit someone’s liberty
among other rights. Unnecessary arrests and incarceration are some of the high contributors to
the rising demand for the rising population in jails and the demand for additional funding, and
this would be dealt with later.