• Peter Mares, Paul Papalia
• The National Interest, ABC Radio National

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21 February 2011Locking up law-breakers doesn't come cheap. In Western Australia, the Auditor General estimates that it costs the state up to $100 million dollars to deal with just 250 young offenders over the course of their lives as juveniles, from 10 to 17 years of age. That's a whopping $400 000 per child. Now, if such an expenditure were to transform those teenagers into adults who stay out of trouble - and out of prison - then the investment may well be considered worthwhile. But that's not what happens. Many offenders, whether juvenile or adult, cycle in and out of jail, meaning our correctional facilities aren't doing much to correct the behaviour of inmates. So, are we condemned to building more and more prisons, and sentenced to a spiral of spending on crime? One WA Labor MP, Paul Papalia, is calling for a different approach.