Upward Trends in Incarceration in Australia Essay

Introduction

Australian prisons are overpopulated due to the increased level of incarceration. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), in 2017 there were 40,577 prisoners in Australia. This was a rapid rise from 10 years ago where only 25,968 were incarcerated (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2017). A report by the Productivity Commission revealed that on average the national adult incarceration has increased by 190 in 100,000 in 2015 compared to 158 in 2006. Rapid increases have been in women, remand, and indigenous prisoners (Weatherburn, 2018). In 2017, indigenous incarceration increased from 139 2010 to 2365 due to high rates of arrest, and increased bail refusal. Presently, Aboriginal individuals are over 14-times more likely to be confined, representing 26 % of the jail population and 1 in 5 deaths in custody (Hogg & Quilter 2017).). The rapid rise in imprisonment rates has been linked to several primary factors. These include an increase in criminal activities, changes in judicial policies, substance abuse, and economic changes such as poverty. Over the last decade, the Australian imprisonment rate has increased rapidly, which is linked to trends in social, political and economic changes.

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Imprisonment rates in Australia

In Australia there are more than enough custodial facilities. Out of the 114 prison facilities, 87 are operated by the government, 8 of them are privately operated. One of them is a periodic detection center, 4 are provisional centers, and fourteen prison facilities are twenty-four-hour court-cell centers. In Australia an average of 29,213 people are arrested every day and held in prisons. The number of people held in prisons increased by 1.7 percent from 2010 to 2015. Men comprise the larger population of the average prison population (92.9%) and 7.1% females (Baldry & Stubbs, 2017)). The number of prisoners on remand (not sentenced) makes up 23 % of the total prison population. Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal comprise 27 % of the total prison population since in 100,000 prisoners 1914 are Torres Strait Islander and (Aboriginal Parliament of Australia, 2016). On average, male are sentenced due to serious crimes that cause injury and suffering such as sexual assault. On the other hands females are arrested mainly due to illicit drug offense or other crimes that cause injury. The imprisonment trend of Australia is close to that of the United Kingdom and the United States. This is because in Australia imprisonment rate in 2012 was 168 per 100,000 and 206 in 2016 (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2017). Although the rate of imprisonment in Australia is less than that of the United States it has been increasing significantly over the last years. In 1984, the prison population in Australia was 86, but it doubled in 2016. Different territories and states in Australia have recorded high rates of imprisonment from 2002 to 2012 where the Northern Territory recorded the largest rate of imprisonment (72%) in 10 years. The population of women in prison is also growing rapidly (Gelb, 2003). The rates of the released prisoner who return to prison have also continued to increase. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2017) the rate of re-offending rates is about 40 percent which plays a significant role in increasing the prisoners' population.

Trends in the imprisonment of Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal people

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics the number of prisoners identified as Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal continues to increase. In 2012 the rate imprisonment of Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal was 15 times higher than the rate for non-Indigenous prisoners.

The primary reasons for growing imprisonment rate in Australian

Despite reduced crime rate in Australia, incarceration continues to increase daily. This increase means that there are other underlying factors that cause it; for instance, the major drivers for the increasing incarceration rate are strict bail conditions and mandatory sentencing. Other factors include social and economic determinants that lead to criminal behavior. Economic and social behavior such as poverty and offending behavior also bring individuals into contact with the Australia punitive criminal judicial system.

Changes in Australia judicial system

Increased incarceration is not a reflection of crime rate but as a result of legislative and policy changes that were put in place to reduce crimes. According to a project carried out Australian Justice Reinvestment judicial changes to judicial systems such as bail restrictions, parole changes, and mandatory sentencing (Wood, 2014).. These tough laws resulted from election complain initiatives to reduce ways to reduce crimes in Australia. The study revealed that 'tough on crime' policies result in the increase in incarceration. For example the study showed that the implementation of 'tough on crime' policies in Victoria increased the average number of people held in prison by 5.3 % (Cunneen, Baldry, Brown, Brown, Schwartz, & Steel, 2016).

Mandatory sentencing is one of the judicial changes introduced in Australia to reduce crimes but ended up increasing the population of prisoners. It limits judicial discretion and limits courts from analyzing the cultural, economic and social aspects affecting the offender. In most cases some offenders commit crimes due to uncontrollable factors such as insanity, poverty and age (Weatherburn, Wales, & Ramsey, 2016). The mandatory sentencing policy does not analyze these reasons but rather sends all the offenders to prisons. Mandatory sentencing therefore increases the period an individual would spend in prison, and thus increasing the prison population. Moreover mandatory sentencing increases the chances of reoffending because people lose their jobs when sent to jail for minor crimes. It also diminishes their chances of employment, social links and other factors that reduce recidivism. In Northern Territory, mandatory sentencing exists for domestic violence order breach, drug offences, and drink driving and other minor crimes (Weatherburn, Wales, & Ramsey, 2016). These legislative changes result in a significant rise in imprisonment rates.

Bail and remand are changes in Australian criminal system that increases the imprisonment rates. Offenders are remanded once they fail to meet bail conditions. Folds (2017) states that when people breach bail they are remanded for example in 2011, 2431 people were remanded for breach of bail after the Bail Act Amendment. Remand has no legislative limits, hence the offenders spend a disproportionate amount of time in prisons.

Strict conditions on parole and strict supervision by the parole officers. The officers make the lives of probationers and parolees difficult by close supervising and monitoring their every move so that they can report any breach of the conditions. The offenders are always sent back to prison due to a minor breach of contract. For instance, in Northern Territory, there were 46 parolees in 2011 who was sent back to prison. Five of them were sent back to prison because of reoffending while the others because they failed to comply with the strict conditions, for instance, failure to report to the officer, or leaving without permission (Folds, 2017). Many parolees do not understand the conditions and many ends up completing their sentence in prisons. Non-compliance has made probation and parole officers reluctant to grant parole to prisoners who are not a threat to the society.

Increased policing especially in remote areas has increased the number of people held in prisons. In many areas, police have criminalized driving by targeting unregistered vehicles and unlicensed drivers. In 2007 the Central Australian Aboriginal Legal Aid Service (CAALAS) conducted a study to determine the cause of the rapid rise in imprisonment. The study that showed that there was 62 percent increase in the recorded vehicle regulatory offenses (Weatherburn, & Holmes, 2017).

Social and economic factors causing an increase in crimes

These factors include low education, inappropriate housing, mental illness, social exclusion, unemployment and other social factors such as poverty. Availability of drug and alcohol and increase in population diversity has also held to increase the number of people held in prisons. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals are significantly overrepresented in prisons and, experience more aggravated adverse social factors than other prisoners. Another factor that relates heavily to incarceration rates is drug and substance abuse.

Crime and substance abuse are intrinsically connected because substance makes people ignorant of the law and they end up committing crimes. Criminal activities expose people to drug use, and drug use and crime are caused by the same factors. Increased imprison rates in Australia may be explained by the increased level of intoxication due to illicit drug use.

Recidivism

The rate of imprisonment is also enhanced by increasing recidivism. The correction system in Australia does not help I preventing offenders from repeating crimes. However, it reinforces the behavior of offending due to its failure to address the main causes of incarceration and places the unnecessary burden to the police forces as well as the justice system (Wood, 2014). Moreover, the criminal records also show that once a person experiences imprisonment, the likelihood of further imprisonment increase, which leads to a lifecycle of reoffending. Moreover, there has been an increase in incarceration of women.

Increase in women incarceration

According to the South Australian Reinvestment Group, there is a sharp increase in the number of women who commit particular offenses, for instance, deception, homicide, and other acts likely to lead to injuries (Baldry & Stubbs, 2017)). The factors that lead to high women incarceration rate include poor education outcomes, unstable housing, poverty, trauma, sexual abuse, and domestic violence. Furthermore, the previously incarcerated women show a higher likelihood of indulging in drug abuse, mental health illness, socioeconomic disadvantages, poor credit rating and depts. (Jeffries & Newbold, 2016).

The theoretical explanation

According to Albert Bandura people learn by watching what the others are doing, for instance, if an individual sees a person being awarded for a certain behavior, he or she will tend to behave in the same manner to receive an award. Different theorists have broadly described personality development, and they include Walter Mischel and Albert Bandura. Personality is brought about by the standard of reciprocal determinism that states that people's internal factors, their behaviors, and their environment affect one another. The mental events which are internal, overt behavior and the external events which are the environment affect each other to determine an individual personality. Personal factors that influence one's personality include the different cognitive and biological process that makes up the psychological person (Bandura, 2005). The surrounding or environment aspects include current opportunities and incentives, physical attributes, and the cultural context. The surrounding shape individuals while at the same time the environment may shape it too. The interaction between people causes others to emulate the behaviors of others, and they acquire the same personality. Factors which are personal for instance, self-appraisals and values are in most cases determined by the environment which affects how people view themselves. The influence of environment an individual personality affects the people's beliefs (Cervone & Pervin, 2010).

Bandura's explanation of personality in socio-cognitive...