Australia’s reliance on incarceration for a wide range of offences has come at a significant financial cost to taxpayers while failing to improve community safety. This report outlines the cost of prisons, trends in incarnation, the incarceration of non-violent offenders and recommendations for reform. It finds the reliance on incarcerating non-violent offenders is straining prison...

This report finds that the present design of Victoria’s upper house, the Legislative Council, reinforces urban domination of Victorian politics while also failing to act as an effective mechanism for scrutiny of government. It provides three recommendations to address the present accountability, democratic and regional representation deficits.

Australia’s imprisonment rate has increased sharply in the last four decades and governments are spending increasingly large amounts on overburdened prison systems. This essay draws lessons from criminal justice reforms in the United States to propose alternative approaches to sentencing and community safety.

This report presents the case for reform to Australia’s incarceration policies by presenting the costs of the criminal justice system in Australia; investigating who is in the system and why; analysing the reasons behind the changing crime scene; and suggesting directions toward an improved system.