This study finds evidence that parole is effective in reducing the risk of re-offending in Australia. Executive summary The current study sought to address four questions of importance to correctional policy: 1. Does unconditional release increase the risk, speed or seriousness of further offending compared with conditional release? 2. Does unconditional release increase the likelihood...

This study examined the risk of re-offending of those who received an intensive correction order, relative to those who received periodic detention and suspended sentences with supervision. Method: Details of offenders’ demographic and offence characteristics, prior convictions and penalties received, and re-offences were extracted from the Re-offending Database maintained by the NSW Bureau of Crime...

Aim: To compare estimates of re-offending obtained from two sources, police data on persons of interest proceeded against and court finalisation data. Method: Offenders who were convicted in a NSW Local or Higher Court in 2009 and received a non-custodial penalty were identified. For these offenders, rates of re-offending at 12 and 24 months were...

Executive summary: The community correction order (CCO) was introduced as a sentencing option in Victoria in January 2012. The purpose of a CCO is to provide a non-custodial sentencing option that is more flexible than the orders it replaced, in particular the community-based order (CBO), the intensive correction order (ICO), and the combined custody and...

This study is a step towards having national data on juvenile recidivism that are both meaningful and comparable across Australia's jurisdictions. Performance measurement (the use of empirical indicators to measure outcomes that government services are supposed to achieve) has emerged in recent years as a strategy to assist governments assess the impact of their operations...