Context Matters in Crime Prevention

Transcription

1 Context Matters in Crime Prevention Anna Stewart Head, School of Criminology and Criminal Justice

2 I would like to acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we are meeting and pay my respect to the Elders, past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

3 I would like to acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we are meeting and pay my respect to the Elders, past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

4

5 Context Matters in Crime Prevention Anna Stewart Head, School of Criminology and Criminal Justice

6 Over representation of Indigenous young people in detention Not gong to list the statistics Not going to talk about high rates of remand Not going to talk about breaches of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child Talk about crime prevention What works, for whom and in what circumstances? Community (context) is key

7 Colonisation Dispossession Imprisonment

8 Colonisation Dispossession Offending (and victimisation) Imprisonment

9 Colonisation Dispossession Offending (and victimisation) Imprisonment

10 Colonisation Dispossession Offending (and victimisation) Imprisonment

11 Criminal Justice System Imprisonment

12 Offending (and victimisation) Criminal Justice System Imprisonment

13 Offending (and victimisation) Criminal Justice System Imprisonment

14 Offending (and victimisation) Criminal Justice System Imprisonment

15 Offending (and victimisation) Criminal Justice System Imprisonment

16 Offending (and victimisation) Criminal Justice System Imprisonment

17 Key to reducing the overrepresentation of Indigenous young people in detention is to reduce offending (and victimisation). How?

18 How do we know these work? Evidence based interventions How do we know what works? Context dependent How do we know for who this works? How do we know under what circumstances it works? Theory based How do we know why it works?

19 How do we know these work? Evidence based interventions How do we know what works? Context dependent How do we know for who this works? How do we know under what circumstances it works? Theory based How do we know why it works?

20 Two effective crime prevention frameworks Situational crime prevention Target crime opportunities rather than individuals Crime Science Developmental and life course criminology Onset, persistence and desistance of offending Target risk and protective factors Importance of systems family, school, community, economic and political Early intervention Therapeutic intervention

21 What works to prevent youth offending? Situational crime prevention Tailored to the situation (problem identification) Increase the effort opal fuel Increase the risk school designs, RBT Reduce the rewards car immobilizers Remove provocations reduce boredom Remove excuses control drugs and alcohol

22 What works to prevent youth offending? Developmental and life course interventions Intervene along the life course Risk factors for offending Parental incarceration Child maltreatment Homelessness Alcohol and substance abuse Protective factors School attendance, performance and retention Employment

23 Give every child the best start Early childhood development key to health and well being Prevent offending (and child maltreatment, youth suicide, mental health, academic failure) Before birth Before problems emerge Life transitions Interventions Pre and postnatal home visits Early family/parent programs Preschool education

24 Boyer lectures Michael Marmot Fair Australia Social Justice and the Health Gap Social determinants of health: the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age. And, I must add, inequities in power, money and resources that give rise to inequities in the conditions of daily life. The link between deprivation of social conditions, ill health and crime is all too obvious in Australia

25 Preventing reoffending? Interventions informed by theory and empirical research Matched to offenders risk of reoffending, needs and responsivity Interventions adopting a holistic approach to target multiple and extensive needs Delivered in community rather than institutional settings Involving significant others including the family and community; Culturally appropriate Ensure program fidelity

26 What works to prevent reoffending? Family based interventions Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care Multi-modular interventions (case management, multisystemic) Counseling and Mentoring programs (CBT Social Skills) Wilderness programs (paired with therapeutic interventions) Vocational, Education and Training (VET) programs

27 What doesn t work? Preventing reoffending Imprisonment and detention Zero tolerance policies Boot campus Shock incarceration (scared straight) Naming and shaming Juvenile curfews

28 Systemic Barriers to effective crime prevention Punitive rather than rehabilitative Reactive rather than proactive Inadequate funding Shortage of qualified and experienced staff (high staff turnover) Delivered on ad hoc basis and not appropriately evaluated Remote discrete communities

29 Community is everything Covered what works, and why: but the key is under what circumstances? The context of the intervention is extremely important understand the historical and cultural context to implement programs understand the opportunity structure around crime work with communities to implement effective interventions Can t just pick up a program/intervention that works in one place and expect it to work in another place

30 Two additional points Justice reinvestment Reducing children on remand bail programs.

31 Final words reducing overrepresentation No simple answer No one answer No immediate answer No magic bullet But there are good initiatives being implemented Need to focus outside the criminal justice system Need to prevent victimisation Need to build the evidence base Need to understand the context

32 Context Matters in Crime Prevention Anna Stewart Head, School of Criminology and Criminal Justice