Change the Record and National Justice Coalition Tackle High Rates of Indigenous Imprisonment in Australia
Tuesday 5 May 2015 @ 1.17 p.m. | Crime | Legal Research
As a result of the 2014 Social Justice Report (released on 27 November 2014), leading Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, community and human rights organisations have come together through the National Justice Coalition and a ‘Change The Record’ campaign, which commenced on 30 April 2015. This campaign aims to address the 88 per cent increase in the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who have been imprisoned over the past decade.
Who is Behind Change the Record?
The 'Change the Record' campaign is led by the National Justice Coalition, a group of leading Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, human rights and community organisations working together to reduce the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the criminal justice system. These include:
- ANTar;
- Amnesty International;
- Australian Council of Social Service;
- Federation of Community Legal Centres (VIC);
- Human Rights Law Centre;
- Law Council of Australia;
- National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations;
- National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services;
- National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples;
- National Family Violence Prevention Legal Services Forum;
- Oxfam Australia;
- Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care;
- Sisters Inside; and
- Victorian Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Young People, Andrew Jackomos
What is the Campaign About?
According to the latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in prison rose by 88% between 2004 and 2014. Meanwhile, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children are at much higher risk of family violence than non-Indigenous people.This escalating crisis is one of the most significant human rights challenges facing Australia today, and is having a devastating impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families and communities. The Change the Record campaign is the result of concerned organisations wanting urgent action and a different approach to crime and public safety.
The National Justice Coalition Co-Chair, Kirstie Parker said:
"Frankly, we are all tired of hearing the bad statistics. We know there are solutions and that with a shared commitment, we can change these statistics...The strength of the Change the Record campaign is that it consists of organisations that have the experience and expertise to identify what the solutions are and work with the public, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and the government to implement them."
What are the Proposals Made by the Campaign?
The Change the Record Campaign makes 12 recommendations:
- Invest in communities, not prisons
- Local communities have the answers
- Recognise the driving factors of imprisonment
- Focus on safety
- Services, not sentences
- Community policing, not policing the community
- Smarter sentencing
- Eliminate unnecessary imprisonment
- Adopt community justice approaches
- Young people don’t belong in prison
- Rehabilitation, not just punishment
- Reintegration not recidivism
The campaign is calling on the federal government to work with the Council of Australian Governments to reduce the “shocking” rates of imprisonment and cut the disproportionate rates of violence by 2040.
Co-chair Shane Duffy says:
“We don’t believe the current approach to crime and public safety is working...We are spending more and more on prisons and not enough on initiatives that can prevent crime in the first place and divert people away from the criminal justice system. We are telling governments that we need a different approach.”
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