Options for Alternatives to Custodial Sentences

1. Options for Alternatives to Custodial Sentences Peter Severin Commissioner, Corrective Services New South Wales

2. 2012 -13 Productivity Commission • 54,616 offenders under supervision (decrease) • 83% male, 17% female • 20% Indigenous • 11,000 on Reparation Orders (Community Service) • 46,000 on Supervision Orders (Bonds, Parole) • 500 on restricted movement (Intensive Bail, Home Detention)

3. Cost 2012 - 2013 • Prison: $ 221.92 per prisoner per day (ACT $ 300.14 / NSW $ 188.82) • Community: $ 22.97 per offender per day (WA $ 45.20 / QLD $ 13.64)

4. Re-offending • 72.7 % of orders are successfully completed • 40.3 % of released prisoners return to prison within two years • 46.4% of released prisoners return to corrections within two years • 14.2% of offenders discharged from community return to a community sanction • 24.8% of offenders discharged from community return to corrections

5. Efficacy of Community sanctions • Efficient response to offending and to reintegration from prison • Better integrated response to risk and needs in a ‘real life’ setting • Better recidivism outcomes • All studies confirm ‘It Works’ • Opportunity for Reparation

6. Need for a New Narrative • The Jill Meagher murder has changed the landscape • Judicial and Community confidence needs to be restored / enhanced • Focus on compliance management underpinned by strong case management • Community sanctions are not soft options • Need for better and more integrated communication in criminal justice

7. Structuring Orders differently • Pre Sentence Report relevance • Conditions must be relevant and tailored • Duration of orders should be flexible • Corrections needs to offer ‘real’ intervention options / solutions • Reduced number of sanctions with enhanced suite of conditions is more effective

8. THANK YOU