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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-07-11 Daily Xml
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ANTISOCIAL AND CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR

The Hon. R.B. SUCH (Fisher) (11:53): I move:

That this house establish a select committee to inquire into and report upon:

(a) the causes of antisocial and criminal behaviour in South Australia;

(b) the strategies that could and should be used to reduce and deal with offending; and

any other matter.

The Attorney can speak for himself, and I am not sure at the end of the day whether he and the government are going to support it.

The Hon. S.W. Key: I thought you were on the Social Development Committee.

The Hon. R.B. SUCH: This is a select committee.

The Hon. S.W. Key: I know, but I thought you were on the Social Development Committee; why can't you do it on there?

The Hon. R.B. SUCH: The member for Ashford interjects, 'Why not do it through the Social Development Committee?' I think the Social Development Committee has got enough on its plate to keep it going for many, many years. As I was saying, the Attorney can speak for himself, but I have had an informal discussion with him about this matter.

What often happens is that as soon as you raise the issue of law and order, particularly leading up to an election, you get options from various parties, and others, trying to outdo each other with how many more people they can hang than the other party, or how many more hands they can cut off, or how many more people they can incarcerate. What we need to do is have a look in a rational way at the causes of crime and antisocial behaviour in South Australia and, more importantly, have a look at how we deal with that antisocial and criminal behaviour to reduce the incidence of it and also, obviously, the related offending.

My concern always is with the human aspect of things but, for those who want a financial incentive, one need only look at the statistics in South Australia. In 2005, we had 1,521 prisoners incarcerated. Last year, we had 1,998 prisoners incarcerated. At current rates, we can expect an increase of 120 prisoners per annum. That is taken from corrections data: ABS Corrective Services Bulletin. Translated into cost, the current cost, as estimated by the Productivity Commission, is $194 a day per prisoner, or $70,810 per annum per prisoner. If you add in the cost of the criminal justice system, according to the Department of Treasury and Finance, as cited in a report by Garrett in 2008 (so it obviously would have changed a bit by now), it was $795 million in 2006-07.

We cannot—and I do not believe we should—keep on trying to tackle the problem by incarceration. I know it is not the only strategy, but it does not work. A report was tabled in the Parliament of Victoria by the Drugs and Crime Prevention Committee on their Inquiry into Locally Based Approaches to Community Safety and Crime Prevention, dated June 2012. In their report they made the point that harsher penal laws, new prisons and the expansion of police forces have had a limited impact on reducing violence and have failed to discourage new crimes. They then detail a whole lot of things that should be considered

I will not have time to go into all of them, but they outline many initiatives that could be adopted, and they would be the sorts of things that this select committee could look at. I came across a staggering statistic the other day. People often look to the United States as a leader in a whole lot of things, but currently a quarter of the world's prison population is incarcerated in the United States. That is a staggering figure. It does not work and it has not worked, just as in the United States the death penalty in Texas and places like that has not stopped people committing murder.

Norway has a very efficient and successful prison system. In Norway, 20 per cent of their prisoners end up back in gaol within two years. In South Australia, it is about 40 per cent. In the UK and the US, it is between 50 per cent and 60 per cent. Even with the prison system, there is still a significant number of people who end up coming back into the system. This is not surprising when you look at the characteristics of prisoners.

In South Australia, 56 per cent of prisoners are between 20 and 35 years of age. They come from a background of social and economic disadvantage, generational unemployment, drug and alcohol addictions, and are functionally illiterate. Many have a psychiatric illness or an intellectual disability. Almost all male sex offenders were sexually abused as children and, according to Correctional Services annual report, 80 per cent had extremely low levels of literacy. Further, 40 per cent were unemployed at the time of their arrest and 32 per cent had an education level of grade 10 or below.

For women, they are usually under the age of 25. They are characterised by social and economic disadvantage, and drug and alcohol addiction. Most are mothers of dependent children. Many have experienced sexual or physical violence in their life and many have a psychiatric illness or an intellectual disability. It is hardly surprising that these people end up in prison. Select committees can do useful things, as members will see shortly when the cemeteries bill is brought before the house. Select committees can look at things in a rational and nonpartisan way to help improve South Australia.

I urge members to support this motion, and I ask the government and the opposition to support it as well. It is not a partisan thing; it is not an attack on the government. It is to deal with a very serious problem relating to early intervention and all of those sort of things we can do to help reduce the number of people who engage in antisocial behaviour or criminal activity. I urge members to support this motion to help improve the quality of life in South Australia and to reduce the number of people who are offending or engaging in antisocial behaviour.

Debate adjourned on motion of Mrs Geraghty.

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