The Coalition Government’s successes in reforming the criminal justice system

The following is the full text of the responses provided to questions from The Age for the feature article published in The Sunday Age of 14 December 2013:

Why did the Coalition decide to focus on getting ‘tough on crime’ during the election campaign – what key challenges did it think the state government needed to tackle at that point in time?
 
The community in 2010 was rightly fed up with Labor’s soft on crime approach, which had seen rising levels of violent crime, lack of police, unsafe public transport and sentences that failed to properly deter offending or protect the community, and was looking for a government that was prepared to tackle those problems, rebuild community safety and restore respect for the law.

When the Coalition came into power, it knew that prisoner numbers had been rising for the past 10 years, and also that the former Labor government had thrice refused the Auditor-General’s requests to build more prisons to accommodate them. During the campaign, the Coalition announced its plans to expand the prison system. Why did it take until April 2012 for the government to announce it would build Ravenhall?

During the election campaign, the Coalition committed to build 500 more prison places arising from our policies for stronger and more effective sentencing.

It was only after coming to Government that Labor’s failure to plan for future prison needs became apparent.

It was only after the election – in November 2012 – that the Auditor-General’s report disclosed that Labor had ignored repeated warnings about the need for more prison places. It was only after the election that Labor’s bungled Aarat prison project collapsed and the extent of the parole system failings under Labor became known following the tragic loss of life of victims killed by dangerous offenders on parole.

It would have been much better if Labor had not run down the State’s prison system – but they did. Now the Coalition Government is acting to fix the problems left behind by Labor.

To fix Labor’s failures and to meet the growth in prisoner numbers, the Government is undertaking one of the largest prison expansion programs in Victorian history.

More than 740 new prison beds have been opened since the Coalition came to office, with nearly 2500 additional places in the pipeline.

To help ease prisoner numbers in police cells while these beds are being built, Corrections Victoria is also building temporary accommodation at various prison locations across the State.

What impact have Coalition reforms, including abolishing suspended sentences and home detention, had on prisoner numbers?

The Coalition Government is meeting its commitment to introduce stronger and more effective sentencing. Because the abolition of suspended sentences applies only to offences committed after the abolition date, to date the abolition has not had a significant impact on prison numbers. However, the Coalition has made provision for more offenders to go to jail over time as a result of abolishing suspended sentences, as part of the 500 additional prison places pledged in our election policies.

What impact will proposed reforms, including those proposed in the Callinan inquiry into the parole system have on prisoner numbers in future?

Reforms to parole following the exposure of the failings in the parole system under Labor have already resulted in many more dangerous offenders being refused parole or having their parole cancelled.  

The number of offenders returned to custody for breaching parole has increased from 530 in 2010-11 and 659 in 2011-12 to 930 in 2012-13. In addition, the number of prisoners denied parole has increased from 201 in 2010-11 and 296 in 2011-12 to 425 in 2012-13.

The key reason prisoner numbers are increasing is because authorities are getting tougher on refusing and cancelling parole. The Coalition Government makes no apologies for keeping more dangerous offenders behind bars. That is exactly what the community is entitled to expect.

While new beds are being built, it is far better to have dangerous offenders behind bars, even in police cells, rather than walking free on the streets

Under a Coalition government, community safety is the paramount consideration and parole is a privilege, not a right.

What role does the Coalition have to play in the current crisis?

The Coalition Government has taken strong action to remedy the failures in Victoria’s parole system left behind by Labor. Legislation has been passed so that serious sex and violent offenders committing further such crimes have their parole cancelled automatically. Legislation has also been passed making it a criminal offence to breach parole, and implementing far-reaching reforms based on the recommendation of the Callinan review, including that community safety must be the paramount consideration in parole decision-making.

To fix Labor’s failures and to meet the growth in prisoner numbers, the Government is undertaking one of the largest prison expansion programs in Victorian history. More than 740 new prison beds have been opened since the Coalition came to office, with nearly 2500 additional places in the pipeline.

To help ease prisoner numbers in police cells while these beds are being built, Corrections Victoria is also building temporary accommodation at various prison locations across the State.

Victoria Police, Corrections Victoria and the courts are working closely together to schedule prisoner appearances in court while new prison places are being constructed.

The commencement of weekend sittings, and the recent commencement of Magistrates’ Court sittings in the County Court building in Lonsdale Street, are two examples of what has been achieved through constructive collaboration by all concerned.

Since recent measures were introduced, the number of persons held in police cells has decreased substantially. On Thursday, 5 December police cells closed holding 262 people, well down on the high of 371 recently.

This is a tribute to the close cooperation between Victoria Police, Corrections Victoria and the courts.

It is also reflects the success of the Coalition Government’s ongoing prison expansion program, which is seeing new cells being completed weekly.

The Attorney-General rejected the SAC’s June study revealing that people who have been in prison are more likely to re-offend, saying it was not up to the Council’s usual high standard. Apart from immediate deterrence during their sentence, what benefit does prison have for prisoners?

The key issue the SAC’s re-offending study was not able to address was the flow of cause and effect – did custodial sentences cause offenders to be more likely to re-offend, or did offenders receive custodial sentences because they were more likely to re-offend in the first place? Another crucial limitation of the report was that it looked only at sentencing that can be imposed in the Magistrates’ Court, that is, up to two years’ imprisonment. Other studies have shown that prison does deter, and also that incapacitation indisputably works.

If prisoners are behind bars, they are not out on the streets re-offending, and that is of benefit not only to the community, but to prisoners themselves.

The Coalition Government is committed to deterring and preventing crime through increasing the certainty, speed and impact of the consequences that offenders can expect to receive, both in custodial and non-custodial sentences. While prison places have a cost to the community, so does crime, and preventing crime through deterrence and incapacitation spares the community the enormous economic, social and personal costs of those crimes.

We have learned that prisoners on temporary beds are not funded for rehabilitation programs in the same way as other prisoners, and that those who are released into the community without having served a term of supervision under parole are also more likely to re-offend and be sent back to prison. Yet the Coalition has said that parole reforms are necessary to ensure it is not treated as a right but a privilege. What effect do you think the prison crisis and parole reforms will have on prisoners when they are released into the community?

This is categorically incorrect. All new beds, including temporary beds, have been funded for rehabilitation and health programs.

The Coalition’s parole reforms are helping offenders learn respect for the law through realising that parole has to be earned and the legal system can’t be treated with contempt.

Some critics have suggested that Victoria is heading towards the US model for incarceration in encouraging more and longer prison sentences. Is the US model of incarceration a positive or negative goal to aspire to? Why or why not?

Those who have urged the Government to copy recent US sentencing practices seem to overlook the fact that in doing so they are advocating copying a system that has an average rate of incarceration between five and seven times the rate of incarceration in Victoria.

The Coalition will continue to implement reforms to fix the problems in Victoria, not blindly adopt measures from other jurisdictions regardless of whether they are appropriate for Victoria.

Courts introduced under the previous government, such as the Neighbourhood Justice Centre and the Koori Courts, which have proven to reduce re-offending, have been given ongoing funding under this government. Does the Coalition have plans to continue and/or expand its support for these initiatives beyond the next state election? If not, why not?

Under the Coalition Government, the Neighbourhood Justice Centre is playing a valuable role as an innovation hub to pioneer and pilot reforms that can be applied more broadly across the court system.

The Government was pleased to be able to provide ongoing funding for the NJC in this year’s budget as part of the funding provided to the Magistrates’ Court, replacing the lapsing short term funding provided by Labor.

The Government has also provided ongoing funding to support the continuation and expansion of Koori Courts, including the Children’s Koori Court and the new County Koori Court in Melbourne.

This funding continues on an ongoing basis beyond the next state election.

Many of the Coalition’s policies have been described as plans to make the community safer.  Has the Coalition made the community safer? Given crime rates have increased significantly in the past three years, how does the government measure safety?

The Coalition Government has made Victoria safer by delivering the biggest single boost to police numbers in the State’s history, as well as reforms that will put PSOs on every train station from 6pm to last train, every day of the year. Additional police resources means more crime is detected, more crime can be reported and, most importantly, more criminals can be taken out of circulation.

The Coalition Government has also made the community safer through introducing stronger and more effective sentencing and requiring community safety to be the paramount consideration in all parole decisions.

What has the Coalition done to reduce/prevent crime in its first term, outside of punishing crime?  

The Coalition has acted to fix the problems we inherited across the justice system, not only with sentencing laws that will better protect the community, but with more police on the streets, PSOs on railway stations, more CCTV cameras, stronger powers for judges and magistrates under our new Community Correction Orders, reform of bail laws and double jeopardy laws, new laws to tackle criminal bikie gangs, tighter tests for working with children tests, more powers for police to use and retain DNA evidence, more rights and support for victims of crime, and far-reaching criminal appeal and jury directions reforms. We are currently seeking community views on proposals for reforms to sexual offence and defensive homicide laws and have asked the Victorian Law Reform Commission to examine reforms to the law on crimes and mental impairment and on jury empanelment.

The Coalition Government created Victoria’s first Crime Prevention portfolio, with funding of $35 million over four years. The funding is used for a number of grant programs,. The Public Safety Infrastructure Fund offers grants of up to $250,000 to councils for CCTV projects, lighting, and works to alter public spaces to deter anti-social behaviour. The Community Safety Fund offers grants of up to $10,000 to community groups to help better secure community facilities. Graffiti Removal and Prevention grants are offered to councils partnering with community groups to tackle graffiti. The Graffiti Removal Program uses offenders on community corrections orders to remove graffiti in public areas, including road and rail corridors. This program, since 2005, has removed graffiti on area equivalent to 85 MCG playing fields.

Importantly, the Crime Prevention portfolio has also provided $7.2 million in grants to reduce violence against women and their children. Programs are currently under way in each of the eight DOJ regions in Victoria. $3.4 million of this money is being used for programs specifically targeting family violence in indigenous communities.

What does the government consider its biggest successes and failures in crime?  What are the biggest problems in the justice system that the next government will have to tackle?

The Coalition government has put an end to Labor’s soft on crime approach, and is rebuilding respect for the law. This vital work to keep Victorian communities, families and children safe will be continued if the Coalition is re-elected in 2014.