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Building community confidence in community corrections

journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-20, 22:41 authored by Lorana BartelsLorana Bartels, Weatherburn, D
It is inevitable that some people granted conditional release will (re)offend, but most will complete their order without incident. Nevertheless, the standard approach adopted by correctional agencies to communicating with the public about community corrections is one of minimal information. We suggest that this may create an impression that offenders are dark shadowy figures incapable of change or redemption. To address this, we set out an agenda for Australian governments to build public confidence in community corrections. We call for more robust program evaluation, publication of the results and regular updates on trends in successful order completion. We also highlight the importance of educating the public about crime and corrections and the need to improve the credibility of community corrections. Finally, governments should do more to humanise offenders. The public has a right to know more about how offenders are managed in the community. They also deserve to hear the stories behind the statistics.

History

Publication title

Current Issues in Criminal Justice

Volume

32

Pagination

292-308

ISSN

1034-5329

Department/School

Faculty of Law

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Place of publication

UK

Rights statement

© 2020 Sydney Institute of Criminology

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Rehabilitation and correctional services

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