Reimagining Victoria's criminal justice system

Two significant reviews and an upcoming election present a once in a generation chance to reform the state's punitive criminal justice system

The Justice Map features news and interviews centred on Australian criminal justice reform.

A once in a generation opportunity to reform Victoria’s “broken” criminal justice system

Two significant reviews and a likely third term for the Andrews government present a once in a generation opportunity to reform Victoria’s “broken” criminal justice system, reversing skyrocketing incarceration rates and human rights abuses in prison.

Victoria’s prison population has grown by over 58 per cent over the last decade, despite the rates of recorded offences and criminal incidents remaining relatively flat during this time.

From 1909 to 1974 there were between 50 and 70 people per 100,000 in prison. This number had more than doubled to 106.8 people per 100,000 in 2020.

The number of women in prison in Victoria has more than doubled in the last decade, and at times during this year more than half of these women were on remand and yet to be found guilty of a crime.

The number of First Nations people in Victorian prisons has tripled in the last 10 years.

According to most legal, civil rights and human rights organisations, Victoria’s incarceration and criminal justice system is devastatingly broken, serving to punish the most marginalised people in society and further push them towards crime.

A number of policies by the Labor government, which has been in power since 2014, have contributed significantly to this situation, led by the series of reforms to bail laws which have made it difficult for anyone to access bail, leading to an explosion in the number of people on remand in prison.

New prisons are being built and existing prisons are being expanded to cater for this increase, which has begun to increase again after a fall due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Several investigations have also uncovered severe human rights abuses within Victorian prisons, along with “everyday” practices such as strip searches and solitary confinement which have also been found to breach human rights.

These organisations are now advocating for a top-to-tail “reimagining” of the state’s criminal justice system through two separate and significant inquiries.

The terms of references for these inquiries span the bail laws to the treatment of people in prisons, and the potential for the Andrews government to secure a third term in government in the state election late last year presents an opportunity for real change, and some of the previous wrongs to be righted.

The state government has launched an independent cultural review of the adult custodial corrections system to “help drive a safer, more inclusive environment for all staff”, led by former Victorian Human Rights Commissioner Kristen Hilton.

This will look to ensure that prisons in the state promote rehabilitation, reduce recidivism and cater to the needs of all incarcerated people.

Running parallel to this is a Legal and Social Issues Committee inquiry into Victoria’s criminal justice system, chaired by Reason Party Leader Fiona Patten. This inquiry has received more than 150 submissions on the factors influencing growing remand and prison populations and strategies to reduce recidivism.

The committee is set to report back by the end of February, while the cultural review does not have a set deadline.

With a Victorian election in late November next year, it’s unlikely that any major reforms of the criminal justice system will be implemented in this term of the Andrews government. But if it manages to win another term, it will have all the evidence and a clear blueprint for reform and the chance to make significant improvements and leave a lasting legacy.

Reimagining the criminal justice system

Advocates for reform are hoping that both reviews offer brave and ambitious paths forward, presenting an alternative to the current system, which they say is failing the most marginalised members of society, primarily First Nations Victorians and women.

There needs to be a “reimagining and fixing” of Victoria’s “broken” criminal legal system, the Human Rights Law Commission (HRLC) said in a submission to government.

Prisons in the state are currently serving as “warehouses” for those experiencing poverty, family violence, housing instability, mental health conditions and addiction issues, the HRLC said.

But there is an opportunity to reform this and create a fairer system, the organisation said.

This needs to be led by a shift in approach from building new prisons to closing existing ones, and reinvesting the savings from this into support services in the community. The HRLC also urged the state government to fix the stringent bail laws, set in place by the Andrews government, which have led to a hugely increased remand population in Victorian prisons.

The HRLC is pushing for the decriminalisation of minor offending such as cannabis use and possession.

“Successive Victorian governments have created a mass-imprisonment crisis,” HRLC senior lawyer Monique Hurley says.

“Instead of building more prisons where cruelty is rampant and unchecked, the Andrews government should be reducing the number of people forced into prisons by fixing discriminatory bail and parole laws, and supporting people and communities by investing in housing and social services.

“This review is a long overdue opportunity for the Andrews government to finally turn the page on abuse behind bars, enshrine best practice human rights protections in law and ban cruel practices like solitary confinement and routine strip searching once and for all.”

A submission endorsed by the HRLC, the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service, Flat Out and Fitzroy Legal Service called on the state government to end human rights abuses within Victorian prisons through a number of reforms.

Recommendations in the submission included the banning of solitary confinement and routine strip searches.

“The impact of harmful practices is not meted out evenly, with communities overrepresented in prisons often disproportionately subjected to, and harmed by, human rights abuses in prisons,” the submission said.

Human rights protections for those in prison should also be enshrined in law, and people in prison should have access to Medicare, the PBS and the NDIS, the organisations said.