Crime prevention
18.28 While the terms of reference of this Inquiry do not include specific consideration of crime prevention programs, youth crime must be seen in the context of the family, geographic, cultural and educational circumstances that affect children’s behaviour and opportunities.[62]Reducing welfare benefits, cutting expenditure on education, disbanding family counselling and related support services, and failing …
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Read moreWhen Should Officers be Liable for Corporate Crime?
Research and consultations in the course of the ALRC’s Inquiry into Corporate Criminal Responsibility have highlighted the important role played by senior management in ensuring compliance throughout the different parts of a corporation. While corporations can be ‘a person’ under law, they are also made up of individuals – some of whom have authority and …
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Read moreAustralian Crime Commission
Background37.2 Organised crime is recognised as a major threat to individuals and to society. In adopting the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, the main international instrument relied upon to combat such activity, the General Assembly of the United Nations stated that it was:Deeply concerned by the negative economic and social implications related to …
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Read moreAboriginal Justice Agreements
Recommendation 16–2 Where not currently operating, state and territory governments should renew or develop an Aboriginal Justice Agreement in partnership with relevant Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations.16.27 The ALRC considers that AJAs should operate in all state and territory jurisdictions. Submissions to this Inquiry considering this issue gave unanimous support to the development of …
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Read moreImpact of mandatory sentencing
8.3 Mandatory sentencing laws require that judicial officers deliver a minimum or fixed penalty (for the purposes of this Report, a term of imprisonment) upon conviction of certain offences on an offender.[1] While, mandatory sentencing laws are found in most Australian jurisdictions in various forms,[2] they are a departure from the standard approach to legislating …
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Read moreBackground
10.5 AJAs were first introduced following a summit of key Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations that were concerned about a gap in state and territory government accountability left after the requirement for state and territories to report on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander incarceration, as recommended by the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in …
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Read moreStructure of the Discussion Paper
1.40 The Discussion Paper is structured in parts. Following the introduction, Part 2 addresses criminal justice pathways. The ALRC has identified three key areas that influence incarceration rates: bail laws and processes, and remand; sentencing laws and legal frameworks including mandatory sentencing, short sentences and Gladue-style reports; and transition pathways from prison, parole and throughcare. …
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Read moreVoluntary income management
Social Security (Administration) Act model10.82 The Social Security (Administration) Act includes an option of voluntary IM, under which a person may enter into a written agreement with the Secretary agreeing to be subject to the income management regime throughout the period in force[124] (which must be at least 13 weeks).[125] The agreement remains in force …
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Read moreVoluntary income management and family violence
13.78 Income management remains a highly controversial policy within urban, rural and remote Australian communities. As noted above, the most controversial welfare reform in income management has, and continues to be, the compulsory quarantining of a person’s welfare payment. Despite various amendments to Compulsory IM, there has been an ongoing call to the Australian Government …
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Read moreSpecialised family violence courts
32.21 Of particular interest to this Inquiry is the use of specialised courts. Since the 1990s, specialised courts have flourished in the form of drug courts, mental health courts, community courts and—most importantly, for the purposes of this Inquiry—family violence courts. In Australia, family violence courts now operate in NSW, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western …
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