Australia is putting more people in prison, despite a fall in the number of criminal offenders. This paper looks at what is driving these trends, the costs on society and whether there are alternatives to prison that still keep the community safe, but at a...

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the rising rates of women’s incarceration in Victoria and to build foundations for an alternative trajectory.

This document reports on the activities of the New Zealand National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) during the period 1 July 2018 – 30 June 2019. The NPM is a robust system to examine, and where appropriate make recommendations to improve, the care and treatment of people...

From July to October 2020, This Life conducted extensive research into the current status of the implementation of the Cambodian Law on Juvenile Justice. This document summarises the main findings of this research, noting that Cambodia has made slow, but significant, advances in juvenile justice...

Justice Reinvestment programmes take many forms, but most share a simple aim - to redirect spending on criminal justice into social justice initiatives that strengthen communities and reduce social harms, including offending behaviours. This report explores the potential of Justice Reinvestment as an alternative to...

This paper compares two cases of long-term detention on the basis of claimed risks to public safety in New Zealand, a common law jurisdiction. It considers whether either of the men or both are reliably or adequately shown to be dangerous, given difficulties in risk...

A 'time served prison sentence' is a sentence of imprisonment imposed on an offender where the length of imprisonment is equal to the amount of time that the offender has spent on remand in custody. This report analyses the proportion of prison sentences that were...

This inquiry examined ways to reduce the number of people flowing through Queensland’s prison system, whilst improving outcomes for the broader community. This final report outlines the Queensland Productivity Commission's findings.

This overview summarises 10 key legislative changes to sentencing law in Victoria from 2018, including the introduction of standard sentences, Category A and B serious youth offences and youth control orders. It also looks at two judicial decisions that will affect the way that sentencing...

In September 2018, the Queensland government directed the Queensland Productivity Commission to undertake an inquiry into imprisonment and recidivism. This report summarises the commission's early findings and nominates areas where further information is sought.

This chapter reports on prison custody and a range of community corrections orders and programs for adult offenders which are delivered separately by the eight states and territories.

The Queensland government has asked the Commission to undertake an inquiry to determine how government resources and policies may be best used to reduce imprisonment and recidivism to improve outcomes for the community.

This research shows that a disproportionate number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) people are named on DVOs, charged with contraventions of DVOs and significantly more likely than non-Indigenous people to receive a sentence of imprisonment for a contravention of a DVO, compared to...

The Serious Offenders Bill 2018 was introduced to the Victorian Legislative Assembly on 8 May 2018. It seeks to establish a civil, protective scheme under which offenders who have served custodial sentences for certain serious sexual and/or violent offences, and who present an unacceptable risk...

The Queensland Sentencing Advisory Council has been asked to review the penalties imposed on sentence for criminal offences arising from the death of a child (child homicide). This paper briefly describes the context of the review, and provides information about child homicide and relevant offences...

Burgeoning numbers of untried prisoners are fuelling an unsustainable rise in Australia’s prison population. Only a shift in resources will bring the figure down, writes Rick Sarre.

This paper explores the drivers of the continued growth of the New Zealand prison population, including consideration of crime rates, remand, sentencing and parole practices.

This report contains thirty-five recommendations designed to reduce the disproportionate rate of incarceration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and improve community safety.

This resource provides a statistical overview of five kinds of theft offences sentenced in the Magistrates’ Court of Victoria between 2012–13 and 2016–17.

The Sentencing Advisory Council has released this issues paper and an online survey, seeking stakeholder and community views on the creation of a Sentencing Guidelines Council in Victoria.