‘Prison is not the answer’: Just Reinvest NSW reacts to Government’s proposed changes to bail laws and package of initiatives to address Moree youth crime
MEDIA RELEASE
MOREE/REDFERN 22 March 2024: “Prison is not the answer,” said Mr. Thomas Duncan, Manager of Just Reinvest NSW (JR NSW) in Moree today. “Incarceration creates more trauma with no positive outcomes – it’s like a revolving door with the same dangerous behaviours passing on to the next generation,” he said.
The Aboriginal community-led organisation which works to create “justice circuit breakers” with programs and collaborations with other services including police, health, legal and education services, says that young Aboriginal people who commit crimes see it as a pathway to acceptance.
“We need to develop pathways with community that will help break this cycle. Diversionary, rehabilitation, behavioural change, and family therapy are the key priorities that we see as helping to create those pathways,” said Mr Duncan.
This statement comes in reaction to the NSW Government’s proposed changes to bail laws and package of initiatives to address Moree youth crime, released earlier this week, including funding for a youth bail accommodation facility.
Just Reinvest NSW supports the petition to the Premier launched by the Aboriginal Legal Service and signed by over 60 organisations against the proposed changes to youth bail laws which will make it harder for Magistrates to release on bail for offenders of specific crimes committed between ages of 14-17 years.
“In the Premier’s own words, the proposed changes to youth bail laws will only serve to incarcerate more Aboriginal children,” said Just Reinvest NSW CEO, Mr Geoff Scott. “The proposed changes to bail laws is the very definition of the opposite of what they’re trying to achieve as a “circuit breaker” – in fact, it will enable easier entry into a circuit of offending,” said Mr. Scott.
JR NSW has been working with three communities across New South Wales who are exploring justice reinvestment approaches to reducing Aboriginal People’s interactions with the criminal justice system in Moree, Mt Druitt and Kempsey.
Justice reinvestment is another way of working with the Aboriginal community to provide more culturally appropriate diversionary and prevention programs like Saturday Night Programs, community events, and cultural camps. JR NSW in Moree is committed to more collaborative work to identify community-led solutions that address disengagement from school and mental health of Aboriginal young people, amongst other issues.
For more information contact James Nichols, Communications Manager, Mobile: 0499 686 157 Email: james@justreinvest.org.au
March 22, 2024at10:37 am, Adams said:
I’m all for supporting them and not sending them to jail , however they aren’t learning that This behaviour is unacceptable. They get caught make bail and then do the same thing the next day, because they know they will be let out straight away. There are so many organisations in our town available to our youth but they dont want a bar of it, How long do we put up with this behaviour. These kids are destroying our town of Moree, people are leaving this town and people will not move here because of the type of violent crime that they commit. This also isn’t just an indigenous issue it’s a youth crime problem. When will it stop. Harsher laws are needed, and that there are consequences for your actions, you choose to break the law, you choose to take what punishment will be given to you by the courts.