Justice Not Jail

The Greens believe everyone has a right to a safe, peaceful and ecologically sustainable existence, free from crime and fear of violence.

Disappointingly, the South Australian Labor Government allocated more than $200 million on prisons and police in the 2025 budget. As part of this, they are increasing the number of beds in prisons over the next five years by 117 to over 1,158¹. 

Instead, the Greens would invest this money in support services and deterrent programs, which are far more effective at stopping crime and saves money. We know from decades of evidence that prison does not acts as a deterrent for crime², particularly in the case of imprisoning children³ and that giving more funding to policing doesn’t make a community safer. Increasing the size of prisons is a failure of public policy and poor leadership.

^{1. https://www.statebudget.sa.gov.au/our-budget/corrections}

^{2. https://www.unsw.edu.au/newsroom/news/2020/07/do-harsher-punishments-deter-crime}

^{3. https://www.justicereforminitiative.org.au/}

Prisons only cause harm to children and there is no evidence to suggest that they act as a deterrent to committing crimes or provide adequate rehabilitation. The legal system takes children away from their families, communities and other support, and often leads them to commit further crimes and be locked away in adult prison. 

TheGreens will amend the Section 5 of the Young Offenders Act 1993 in South Australia to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14 years old in line with recommendations from the United Nations⁴. It is unfathomable that in Australia, children who can still have their baby teeth are locked away in prison. Labor is currently considering raising the age to 12 years old, however, this is still too young.

Imprisoning a young person costs the taxpayer $1.12 million per year - this money could be directed to effective and targeted prevention services. The Greens propose that money spent on jailing kids should instead be redirected into support services that include housing, women’s safety, support for children and in-community intervention and prevention programs. 

There are many that already exist in South Australia such as InComPro and Youth Opportunities that provide skills development, wellbeing support and pathways to education and professional outcomes.

^{4. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-21/un-australia-raise-the-age-of-criminal-responsibility/13078380}

The South Australian Labor Government are proposing to increase the number of police to over 5000 by 2031, at a cost of $172 million over six years (including $69.8 million to 2028-29) for additional sworn police officers. 

Pouring money into policing doesn’t make the community safer or address the root causes of crime⁵.

When someone offends, and this applies especially to kids, they are sometimes experiencing disadvantage from homelessness, cognitive disability, drug and alcohol use, poverty, family breakdown, discrimination and violence. The Greens propose addressing these factors as well as ensuring the justice system is equipped to provide pathways to reform. 

The current rate of recidivism is 35.8%⁶. The state government has plans to reduce recidivism by 20% by 2026, with a 15% target for First Nations peoples. This can’t be achieved unless adequate funding is in place. We will dedicate $100 million over four years to fund four additional dedicated rehabilitation and transitional housing services, like Lemongrass Place⁷ along with longer term housing and mental and physical health support for people who are leaving prison or at risk of offending. 

The Greens will expand services for people on bail or leaving detention they are better connected to supported housing options. Currently there is one service providing 30 spaces for accommodation through the Bail Accommodation Support Program (BASP) that is run in partnership with AnglicareSA. This support program can be doubled. 

Referral pathways from prison and police intervention to support for people living with a mental illness or disability will mean that someone will not be punished for their disadvantage. Funding a range of wrap-around services adequately, particularly transitional housing can go some way to addressing this. 

^{5. https://www.aic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-05/tandi016.pdf}

^{6. https://www.corrections.sa.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0012/993765/20BY26-Report.pdf}

^{7. https://adac.org.au/our-initiatives/lemongrass}

If we care about breaking the cycle of crime and inter-generational poverty, we need to reduce imprisonment rates. The Greens will investment in justice reinvestment programs, which have been highly successful in empowering communities who are caught up in the justice system. 

Originating from a highly successful initiative in Texas for over 15 years, justice reinvestment is an approach where projected increases in imprisonment expenditure is re-directed, in advance, to programs which are demonstrated to address the root causes of crime. This could be supporting programs for single parents, educational activities for pre-school-aged children, or sports programs for school-aged children. 

Since the program was initiated in Texas in 2007, they have closed 16 prisons, and their recidivism and crime rates are at historic lows⁸. The program has since been replicated across the globe.

In the Australian context, justice reinvestment can help reduce the shameful over-representation of Aboriginal people in our prisons. Aboriginal young people in South Australia are 23 times more likely to be placed in detention than non-Aboriginal young people. These numbers are increasing. If this crisis of overrepresentation is not addressed, South Australia risks losing another generation of First Nations peoples to the criminal justice system⁹. By investing in First Nations communities, we can end this cycle.

At the moment there is one justice reinvestment program in South Australia, which is in Port Adelaide, Tiraapendi Wodl. This receives a combination of funding from the South Australian Department of Human Services (DHS) funding from the Australian Red Cross (ARC). 

The cost of adult incarceration is approximately $147,000 per year per prisoner. The Greens will redirect projected imprisonment cost increases into justice reinvestment, with a target of $30 million over 4 years. We propose to open another 3 programs over 4 years, and for at least one of those to exist outside of Adelaide. 

^{8. https://justicereinvestmentinitiative.org/jri-states/texas/}

^{9. https://www.tiraapendiwodli.org.au/}