This is the media release for my May 2018 research report, Making community corrections work.

“Community corrections is growing rapidly, and we need to act now to make it more effective. One way to do this is to get community-based offenders into more meaningful work by permitting businesses to offer community service opportunities,” said Andrew Bushnell, Research Fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs.

The latest report from the IPA’s Criminal Justice Project, Making Community Corrections Work, released today, provides a national overview of community corrections and outlines how community service, as the chief component of community corrections, can be made more effective through the involvement of commercial businesses.

“With community service becoming a greater part of our criminal justice system, a reconsideration of how we punish criminals in the community is overdue,” said Mr Bushnell.

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This video was published in December 2017 to provide an overview of the year’s work by IPA’s criminal justice project, which I lead.

The fourth major research report from the IPA’s Criminal Justice Project addresses the high level of incarceration among Indigenous Australians and a first principles approach to policy reform in this area.

The paper can be found here. It was submitted to the Australian Law Reform Commission’s review of Indigenous incarceration rates, details about which can be found here.

Media release

A new report released today by the free market think tank the Institute of Public Affairs: Indigenous Australians and the criminal justice system, examines the very high rate of incarceration among Indigenous Australians. The report makes an original contribution through a renewed focus on core principles of justice and corrections, while being mindful of Indigenous disadvantage.

It finds that despite decades of special programs for Indigenous offenders, recidivism and incarceration rates have continued to climb, and calls for enhanced options for punishment and reform outside of the traditional prison system

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Find the report here.

Media release

“Australians are spending more on criminal justice and getting worse results than most comparable countries, underlining the need for criminal justice reform across the country,” said Andrew Bushnell, Research Fellow at the free market think tank, the Institute of Public Affairs.

Today the IPA released a new report Australia’s criminal justice costs: An international comparison. Authored by Research Fellow Andrew Bushnell, the report details the high costs and weak results of Australian criminal justice.

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