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Policy Responses and Speeches |
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When will we ever learn?
When will we ever learn? "Lock ‘Em Up" (p1, The Herald Sun 14/1/10) might make good headlines. It might even fool some people into thinking that the Leader of the Opposition's apparent ‘tough on crime' stance will make our streets safer. But it doesn't make good sense. The evidence consistently tells us that tackling the social problems behind crimes is what makes sense. The social problems are real. For example 7% of people in prison have not completed secondary, trade or tertiary education (Statistical Profile of the Victoria Prison system: 2004-05 to 2008 -09, Corrections Victoria p.12) and two thirds of new prisoners in Victoria report that their offences relate to drug use while between 80 - 90% of prisoners on a second or subsequent sentence report problems with drugs.(Victorian Prison Drug Strategy 2002.
If the ‘lock ‘em up' strategy' worked we wouldn't have 1 in 4 prisoners being reconvicted within 3 months of being released from prison. We wouldn't have between 35 - 41 % of prisoners being reimprisoned within 2 years of being released (Australian Institute if Criminology 2008). We wouldn't have to spend millions on extra jails as more and more people are locked away, despite the fact that overall crime has decreased by 25% over the last 9 years in Victoria (Crime Statistics - Victoria Police 2009).
It is ‘time to act' Mr Baillieu. Not with a headline-grabbing, knee jerk reaction but in a way that all the evidence says works - addressing the social problems behind crime. That makes sense.
Christ Was A Refugee Too
(Letters to the Editor, The Australian, 23/12/09)
Finally, a boat load of people who fled a warzone in Sri Lanka have been recognized as refugees entitled to protection from persecution ("Viking Tamils finally reach destination", 21/12, 22/12). Does anyone else see the irony that refugees have again become a political football during the Christmas season? This very week we celebrate the birth of Jesus - not the picture book, sanitised story but the real life version which saw a baby born in an animal shelter, because the good people of the town of Nazareth couldn't find any ‘spare' accommodation where his heavily pregnant mother could give birth. Then, no sooner was he born than he and his family became refugees, fleeing for their lives. Sound familiar?
Julie Edwards
CEO Jesuit Social Services
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 Julie Edwards, CEO, spoke at Caritas in Veritate - Reflections on Pope Benedict's encyclical on Human Development on 19th November 2009.
Photo: Julie Edwards with Archbishop Philip Freier, Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne and Rufus Black, Master of Ormond College
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Letter to the Editor The Age 17 Nov 2009
Jail will do this child no good... Disadvantage sets in early in life and tends to accumulate.
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Leadership: Integrity Across Domains
Speech given by Julie Edwards, Chief Executive Officer on 10th November 2009 at Edmund Rice Educaton Australia.
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Submission to the Australian Human Rights Commission inquiry into African Australians and human rights
Submission to the Australian Human Rights Commission inquiry into African Australians and human rights and social inlcussion issues.
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Protecting the rights of the most disadvantaged
Jesuit Social Services submission to National Human Rights consultation |
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More Policy Papers & Speeches
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