Recidivism and Security Fraud: A Report on Victoria's Justice System

This report delves into the problem of social security fraud within the Victorian justice system, examining its impact and the factors contributing to it. The report begins by defining the issue and then moves on to a stakeholder analysis, identifying internal and external stakeholders such as judges, police officers, victims, and offenders. It discusses the roles and influences of these stakeholders, highlighting potential biases and issues with evidence presentation. The report then examines relevant laws and policies, including the Social Security Act 1999 and its sections related to fraud and deception, and discusses the need for stronger legal frameworks to combat fraudulent activities. A discussion section analyzes loopholes in the current system and proposes amendments to laws and policies to improve social security and reduce the likelihood of recidivism among offenders. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of legal adherence and stakeholder collaboration to address social security fraud effectively.

The Likelihood of
Recidivism in Relation
to Security Fraud
Offenders Within
Victoria

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................1
Problem.......................................................................................................................................1
Stakeholder analysis ...................................................................................................................1
Insert Stakeholders Name...........................................................................................................2
Name of Policy............................................................................................................................3
Discussion...................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Law is an important part of any nation as it decides that how any of the country is going
to be run. Law gives the authority to decided that what is wrong and what is right because every
legal terms are defined under it. There are number of people who tries to find the way to breach
terms and condition of law and they are understood as social problem where still lots of work is
needed to be done. In context of the project, “Social Security Fraud within Justice System” has
been selected which is one of the major problem that can be easily seen within Victoria,
Australia. In order to complete this assignment, first issue will be explained in detail with
stakeholder analysis with name of stakeholders. In addition, law and policies will be explained
in it.
MAIN BODY
Problem
The problem which is selected in this project is “Social Security Fraud within Justice
System”. In present scenario, it has been found that justice system is unable to deliver the
appropriate decision which is required by general public (Banks, J. and et. al., 2019). In
addition, there are number of situation where decision are biased and even evidence are also
being presented wrongly. This are some of the social security problem related to fraud where
justice system is unable to meet its target. Also, how whole of this problem can be sorted out and
for that who should take initiative so that it can be sort out. In order to resolve all of this
problem, it will be focused that which types of laws and regulations can be beneficial so that
issues can be sorted out related to justice system.
Stakeholder analysis
There are two types of stakeholders considering this policy. The internal stakeholders
consists of people who are directly involved in formulation of the policy such as judges, police
officers, parole officers and correctional officers. On the other hand, external stakeholder are the
people who are indirectly influenced with formulation and modification of this policy such as
media, victims of the injustice and social offenders (Ward and Carter, 2019). The main reason
for mentioning the stakeholders in internal and external category is that they are directly linked
to the policy and influenced largely with minor modification to the same.
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There have been numerous instances of fraudulent practices in the justice system of
Australia which makes it crucial to analyse the policy and address the major loopholes to the
same. This makes it extremely important to analyse the stakeholder and their views so that their
perspectives could be understood. The crucial stakeholders are government officials and
administrative officers who's values and beliefs are the major consideration behind formulation
of the policy. On the external grounds, victims and offenders are the two paramount stakeholders
who are largely influenced with such policies (Adolphe, van Golde and Blaszczynski, 2019). It
has been extremely important for policy formulators to consider the views and expectation of the
other crucial stakeholders to cover major loopholes to the policy and address major concerns.
The administrative/executives are the individuals who possess the largest share of funds to the
project and are required to be most active to prevent such fraudulent practices from happening.
Whereas the society is known to be most diverse when it comes to displaying the diverse views
and beliefs relating to the social crimes happening in the justice system.
Insert Stakeholders Name
In current situation, this problem is being created just because of justice system and other
local people and among them it is said that judges of court is playing the significant role. Even
there are other people who is connected with this problem such as lawyers, social media, parole,
probation officers etc. Their believes changes according to system because accurate decision is
not being mattered the most and instead of that evidences are being changed in many of the
situation.
All of these stakeholder changes the situation and evidences by presenting different facts
and ideas due to which decisions are being changed and that have the problem in maintaining
Social Security in present scenario. As there are number of stakeholder who have been involved
in this major issue because they present false information (McGillivray and et. al., 2016). When
it comes to lawyer, they present totally different views and ideas regarding the issues and
because of that judges need to understand case according to that manner for declaring the result.
Secondly, when it comes to social media, they fails to provide complete information about
particular case due to which it becomes difficult to understand that what actual problem is all
about. There are number of situation where cases is being given to probation officer and in that
situation they are unable to take suitable decision according to the facts presented in front of
them.
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As they all have different views and ideas for the cases which is being presented, it is
clear that there are number of occasion when facts of stakeholder do contradicted and even
creates problem for innocent people.
Name of Policy
There are different laws and policies which is being formed every year which helps to
sort out the problems which arises on regular basis. Although, there is no fix laws related to
Social Security related to Fraud in Justice System but still there are number of laws such as
Social Security Act 1999. It is one of the most important law in aspect of Australia because it
helps to protect fraudulent activities which are being found within Victoria. As per section
134(1) states that person is not allowed to obtain property by deception and if any of the
condition it is found so then legal action can be taken against them at any period of time.
Secondly, section 134(2) says that financial advantages should not be taken and if in any of the
situation it is found then it is punishable under the legislation. But, according to the problem
which has been raised, it is understood that section 135(1) & section 135(2) will play crucial role
because this are the policies which says that person should not harm other for the purpose of
personal benefits (Social Security Administration Act, 1999). Some of the addition policies
which indicates the punishable activities under fraudulent of social security is:
 any of the person should not stick to those statement which are false and might create
negative impact for other people.
 Person should not misuse the benefits whenever they are handed with some special
powers.
 Any one should not be find in the situation where they try to change the evidence through
which decision can be totally altered at any period of time.
Here, it necessary for federal government or commonwealth to take further steps to
prepare laws and policies much stronger because number of issues are being seen on regular
basis and that have been affecting in different manner to different people (Brown, 2019).
Discussion
As per the above mentioned facts and ideas it is understood that there are number of loop
holes due to which problem in protecting social security is arising day by day. Secondly, there is
lack of proper law to be formulated through which strict action can be taken against the person
who is found guilty under the problem of social of justice system. The justice system is unable to
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identify the accurate laws and policies due to lack of evidences available in front of them and it
is assumed that stakeholder plays the major role in it.
Among total number population in Australia, almost 20 people out of 100 are being
victimise of the decision which is being declared by the Justice system and it is among one of
most complicated problem problem in current scenario (Sheehan, 2017). Whenever this types of
problem arises within the nation, it should be main priority that laws and policies should be
amended. There are number of issues due to which problem related to social securities is
increasing day by day. The main problem is that decision which are being declared are not
appropriate because there are number of situation where people are being penalised in form of
monitory terms which leads to increase in problem of social security. Both, internal and external
stakeholders can easily play crucial role for the betterment of social security in justice system
because it is assumed that person working for government authorities such as policies officers,
judges does have detail knowledge about case. They are the one who need to investigate any of
the particular case and for that if they doesn't find any of the legal evidences on it then they
should try to take additional period time so that they can declare decision in more effective way.
Even external shareholder can also play important role in because they easily try to find the
actual facts of the case and that can be presented within social media.
In current scenario, this problem is increasing rapidly and because of that it is necessary
that changes should be done it and this is only possible when powers will be distributed. Firstly,
there are number of situation where decisions are needed to be declared according to legislation
but it should be changed because judges are the one who need to action at final moment so it will
be better that they should be given power to declare decision (Stewart, Bathy and Fisher, 2016).
Power can be distributed according to common law where judges identifies the situation and
after that they declares it. Secondly, media need to focus on the cases where decision are being
declared by being biased. It will be helpful because commonwealth or federal government will
need to take action in it afterwords. Laws and regulations are not being formed on amended
because most of the time it is found that people don't show there interest on any of the policies
which are being formed for them. If they can raise points where they want changes then it can be
possible to do some of the amendments. This amendments will helps to restrict fraudulent
activities which is being performed by some of the professional bodies such as lawyers, judges,
policies officers and many more.
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In addition, it has been found most of the problem are being occurred due to false
statement which is being presented. Secondly, forged documents and statement is also major
issue and it is necessary that every documents should be reverified (Heseltine and Day, 2017). It
is important because it will give the idea that whether decisions are right or wrong and if they are
wrong how it could be improved in future period of time.
As all of this activities is creating problem for public, it is necessary to amend laws and
policies because they create unnecessary problem for many of innocent people. Even it is
important punishment should be changed because there are number of situation where criminals
are released on the basis of monetary penalties and they are major issues which is needed to be
sort out as soon as possible. It is important that punishment of imprisonment should be increased.
Section 135(1), (2) can be amended where punishment is up to 10 years (Banks, 2017). It should
be increased according to the situation. This might be the way through which problem can be
resolved related to Social Security Fraud within Justice System.
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CONCLUSION
From the above file, it is concluded that laws has its own importance and it is necessary
that person should follow its proper guideline. Due to fraudulent activities, social securities in
justice system is reducing day by day and in future amendments are required in it. Even it is
necessary that both internal and external stakeholders should show their support to change those
laws and policies due to which appropriate decisions are not being given or proper laws are not
being formed.
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REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Adolphe, A., van Golde, C., & Blaszczynski, A. (2019). Examining the potential for therapeutic
jurisprudence in cases of gambling-related criminal offending in Australia. Current
Issues in Criminal Justice. 31(2). 236-254.
Banks, J. (2017). Gambling, Problem Gambling, Crime and the Criminal Justice System. In
Gambling, Crime and Society(pp. 63-109). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Banks, J. and et. al., (2019). Prevalence of gambling disorder among prisoners: a systematic
review. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology.
Brown, S. (2019). The Psychology of Sexual Offending. The Wiley International Handbook of
Correctional Psychology, 235-250.
Heseltine, K., & Day, A. (2017). Rehabilitation Programmes in Australian Prisons. In The
Palgrave Handbook of Australian and New Zealand Criminology, Crime and
Justice (pp. 831-846). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
McGillivray, J. A. and et. al., (2016). Substance use, offending, and participation in alcohol and
drug treatment programmes: a comparison of prisoners with and without intellectual
disabilities. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities. 29(3). 289-294.
Sheehan, R. (2017). Policy developments in Victoria: The Better Pathways strategy. In Women's
Transitions from Prison(pp. 21-35). Routledge.
Stewart, F., Bathy, Z., & Fisher, G. (2016). Reoffending by children and young people in
Victoria. Melbourne: Sentencing Advisory Council.
Ward, T., & Carter, E. (2019). The classification of offending and crime related problems: A
functional perspective. Psychology, Crime & Law. 25(6). 542-560.
Online
Social Security (Administration) Act. 1999. [Online] Available Through:
<https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2017C00220>
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