Why? that is the question.
Increased population?
More draconian laws?
Better policing?
Cost of living driving people to crime?
Moral crisis in society?
We are importing criminals into the population?
Which one/s of these?
Tough law and order stance triggers jail population explosion
Date April 27, 2014
Kirsty Needham
State Politics Editor
Getting tough on crime isn't cheap or simple
The state government's tough-on-crime policies are swelling the prison population so quickly it is too late to avoid crowding by building or reopening prisons, the Bureau of Crime Statistics has warned.
Prisoner numbers hit a peak of 10,937 in March, almost 900 more prisoners than a year earlier, or the equivalent of one Parklea prison, internal government data shows.
A report delivered to former attorney-general Greg Smith by BOCSAR director Don Weatherburn has concluded that the sharp rise in prisoners is not caused by an increase in crime.
''It's a consequence of government and policing policy that the prison population is rising,'' Dr Weatherburn said.
''At the current rate it would be very difficult to bring additional capacity online fast enough to deal with the growth.''
Last June the prison system had a capacity of 10,154, and no new prisons have been opened since.
Instead, Parklea prison began converting two-man cells to accommodate three men last month, sparking a petition from prisoners who claimed the additional bunk beds breached health guidelines. The extra inmates were not moved into the cells until several days after an Ombudsman's inspection.
Corrective Services commissioner Peter Severin has admitted in a letter to a prisoner advocacy group that GEO Group, which runs the prison, was asked to find additional accommodation ''in response to an increase in the NSW inmate population''.
Mr Severin said public health regulations allowed three prisoners to be housed in the small cells if they are moved within 28 days.
''While the preference of many inmates to be accommodated in two-out cells is appreciated, CSNSW must ensure that inmates are housed within the constraints of available accommodation,'' Mr Severin wrote.
Advocacy group Justice Action said crowding increased the risk of violence in prisons. Mr Severin said this was not substantiated because the extra beds had been occupied only recently.
A leaked memo has revealed the policy for revoking the parole of prisoners was also changed last month in an attempt to get prisoners out the door faster.
Inmates being unable to find outside accommodation in time, poor behaviour in custody or outstanding court matters were not grounds for revoking parole, the memo said.
''Proper prison management has been sacrificed on the altar of cutting costs,'' shadow attorney-general Paul Lynch said.
The O'Farrell government closed the Parramatta, Kirkconnell and Berrima prisons in 2011 to save money. ''Shutting prisons and getting rid of 600 jobs inevitably leads to prison overcrowding,'' Mr Lynch said.
A Corrective Services spokesman said: ''The government is considering a range of options to deal with the fluctuations in numbers.''
Prisoner numbers had fallen to 9491 by July 2012. But they rose 7 per cent in the 18 months to December 2013, as arrest rates for drug and weapon offences and breaches of suspended sentences and apprehended violence orders spiked. The BOCSAR report will be released publicly next month.
DOLT - A person who is stupid and entirely tedious at the same time, like bwian. Oblivious to their own mental incapacity. On IGNORE - Warrior, mellie, Nom De Plume, FLEKTARD
DOLT - A person who is stupid and entirely tedious at the same time, like bwian. Oblivious to their own mental incapacity. On IGNORE - Warrior, mellie, Nom De Plume, FLEKTARD
Rorschach wrote:Why? that is the question.
Increased population?
More draconian laws?
Better policing?
Cost of living driving people to crime?
Moral crisis in society?
We are importing criminals into the population?
Which one/s of these?
What particular crime is on the increase?
We still have relatively few murders in Australia and most are "domestics".
I can't remember when I last saw the Police walking around anywhere. Occasionally see a Police Vehicle.
It used to be that druggies broke into houses to steal stuff to sell but these days that is fairly rare as if they break in all they do is steal CASH as nobody will take (or wants) a TV, DVD player, CDs or anything else that used to be worth re-selling "cheap".
I think the crime on the rise is not the usual murders, break-ins, assaults but paedophilia! They get a slap on the wrist and the Law says they can only get a maximum of 2 years or some such. Most get a suspended sentence and they are back on the streets! These creeps should be named and shamed but that might "offend" privacy laws. Geeze. Get real.
Oh, and since it is now getting quite chilly at night in Canberra, we are having a rash of "flashers" out there. Amazing!
Crime rates in the USA reached a peak sometime in the late 1980's/very early 1990s and declined sharply after that. Get-tough-on-crime types claimed that it was their actions that caused the decline but later it was discovered that it has to with with abortion as much anything:
AiA in Atlanta wrote:Crime rates in the USA reached a peak sometime in the late 1980's/very early 1990s and declined sharply after that. Get-tough-on-crime types claimed that it was their actions that caused the decline but later it was discovered that it has to with with abortion as much anything:
I can believe that The US Government is keeping the statistics down to a new "black" level ... or something. They still shoot and ask questions later ... even in nice, well to do, neighbourhoods. Apparently.
I'm not sure that that article demonstrates crime is increasing. We'd need to see the statistics on conviction in terms of proportion of the population - the ratio may be the same, but it would be a higher number because population is increasing.
But on the assumption that there has been an increase in the proportion, I'd point to several things.
There may be an increase in the amount of reporting because people are encouraged more and more to come forward about rape, sexual abuse and domestic violence.
I also wonder if improved technology could be increasing convictions - better surveillance and people recording events on their mobile phones, better forensics and more accurate analysis. So not so much an increase in crime, more an increase in criminals being identified, apprehended and convicted.
I think the rise of crystal meth in the community could account for some of this. It is such a commonly used drug and there are a lot of local meth labs around the country. Historically, speed, cocaine and heroin were the drugs of choice and not used as much, nor was as high a proportion of the drugs produced in Australia.
You may be right about the crystal meth problem. It's a drug that also leads to a rise in violence and anti-social behaviour, hence a higher incarceration rate whereas pot, LSD, cocaine and typical 'traditional' drugs were never really associated with psychotic episodes and violence (to the degree that meth seems to drag users closer to that breaking point, much much quicker)
I've seen up close and personal (not myself) the damage meth can do to a person physically and mentally. It's not a pretty sight and can turn an issue that someone may not be happy about into a full on violent code call by the police.
Quote by Aussie: I was a long term dead beat, wife abusing, drunk, black Muslim, on the dole for decades prison escapee having been convicted of paedophilia
I read a book about the history of crystal meth in Australia many years ago. It explained the science behind how it impacts people and the stories of psychotic episodes were frightening. One man hacked his housemate to death with an axe over an argument about whose turn it was to buy the milk. That's extreme of course, but it absolutely does increase psychosis, violence and antisocial behaviour. And since then, yes, I too have been exposed to people who have problems with the drug.
Perhaps alcohol as well could be contributing to a rise in crime. I'm 32 now and I know when I went out in my late teens and early 20s, the sort of behaviour that is commonplace now was the exception rather than the rule. People seem to drink so much more now on average than they did even a decade ago. So perhaps that is resulting in an increase of assaults, disorderly/disruptive behaviour and brawls.
These issues, too, have led to legislators increasing the penalties for some minor crimes and also adding other offences related to this behaviour. So on top of just the increase in behaviour we could also have an increase in the criminality of it.
