‘Dear Premier’, write Janet Ransley in The Conversation (20.2.15): ‘You have a ready-made blueprint for evidence-based crime policy in last year’s parliamentary legal affairs and community safety committee report on reducing criminal activity in Queensland. It made 88 recommendations, including to:
- establish an independent agency to collate, analyse and interpret crime data and develop evidence-based policy
- reverse the recent trend to increased imprisonment, especially for those on remand and those convicted of relatively minor offences
- invest in prisoner education, rehabilitation and post-release support to reduce re-offending
- trial and properly evaluate a justice re-investment approach, diverting money from jails to community-based prevention measures
- invest in evidence-based early intervention programs to reduce offending by young people, including social support for at-risk youth
- review decisions to abolish or reduce diversionary programs including drug, Indigenous and special circumstances courts
- tackle the underlying issues leading to over-representation of Indigenous people in the criminal justice system, such as the lack of educational and social services in some communities.’