Recidivism in Australia : findings and future research - Australian ...

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2 Recidivism in Australia: findings and future research Underlying research in the criminal justice sector is the knowledge that crime and victimisation incur significant costs, both financial and social, to the Australian community. In 2002 the AIC estimated the annual financial cost of crime in Australia at $19 billion. An additional $13 billion was spent on criminal justice services such as policing, corrections, court administration and security (Mayhew 2003). At the macro level these figures indicate the economic importance of crime to the Australian community. At the micro level they demonstrate the impact of crime on individuals, families and communities – an impact that is clearly indicated by national victimisation estimates, which suggest that every year almost 10 percent of Australians are victims of personal crime (robbery, assault and personal theft) while one in five households experience a burglary, theft or motor vehicle theft (Johnson 2005). On average, there are two victims of theft every minute of every day in Australia (ABS 2005a). Growing concern for public safety places government at the forefront of the crime prevention agenda. The criminal justice system is the network of agencies that aim to prevent and investigate crime as well as to ensure that those who break the law are held accountable. The Steering Committee for the Review of Government Services Provision (SCRGS) has summarised the objectives of the criminal justice system as providing protection for the rights and freedoms of all people through the: • • • operation of police services that enhance community safety by preventing, detecting and investigating crime administration of criminal justice that determines guilt and applies appropriate, consistent and fair sanctions to offenders provision of a safe, secure and humane custodial environment and an effective community corrections environment that provide program interventions to reduce the risk of reoffending. These objectives are to be ‘pursued in a manner that is accessible, equitable, timely and efficient’ (SCRGS 2006). That is, governments are not only responsible for providing criminal justice services but also for ensuring that these services are delivered equitably, fairly and efficiently to the Australian community. Of particular interest to this report are the terms ‘efficiency’ and ‘effectiveness’. They are terms that have, in the past 20 years, become ensconced in the political lexicon as indicators of the quality and cost of government service provision. They apply to all facets of the criminal justice system and are of great interest to researchers. In her account of the development of therapeutic jurisprudence in the Australian court system for example, Jefferies noted that courts, Australia wide, have experienced shifts in the intellectual paradigm concerning the roles and responsibilities of the criminal justice system in delivering interventions designed to address the underlying
Understanding recidivism causes of offending (Jefferies 2003). These shifts have resulted in a greater emphasis being placed on proactive crime prevention strategies than on reactive crime control measures to deliver tangible reductions in crime. Jefferies suggested that growing community expectations of a more responsive and cost effective criminal justice service may be part of the reason for this move towards therapeutic jurisprudence. It is no longer considered sufficient to deal with crime when it occurs, but instead, a concerted effort should be made to prevent it from occurring. To this end, policy makers and practitioners have turned to the criminological evidence base to assist them in identifying what works and what doesn’t (AIC 2005). They are becoming increasingly responsible for ensuring that their policies are effective in terms of what they seek to deliver and the cost of delivering them. It is no surprise that policies and programs must be adequately and appropriately targeted before implementation, and evaluated after some time in operation. They rely increasingly on research findings to help them answer questions about whom to target, how and when. For every crime there are three basic elements: a motivated offender, a suitable target, and an absence of capable guardians (Graycar and Grabosky 2002). Recidivist offenders present an interesting dimension to this model because they are seemingly motivated to commit more crime, more often and are more resistant to regulatory responses that aim to prevent their criminality. Moreover, recidivist offenders are also likely to account for a significant proportion of reported and unreported crime, and initiatives aimed at reducing their offending have the potential to deliver sustainable reductions in crime rates across Australia. Recidivism research, therefore, offers a methodology for understanding crime and criminal activity within the context of fluctuating crime rates, growing concern for public safety, and increasing public sector accountability. It has the potential to identify the size and characteristics of the recidivist population, improve understanding of the factors that correlate with high volume offending, and assist in evaluating the effectiveness of programs designed to reduce reoffending. Recidivism research assists in the development of the evidence base necessary for effective and efficient crime prevention strategies, with the potential to reduce the burden and cost of crime to the Australian community. 3
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Research and Public Policy Series N
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