Policy submissions

Here you’ll find a wide selection of policy papers and submissions we’ve published. Each paper draws on our experience working with disadvantaged youth, families and communities.

What do young people with an out-of-home care experience think about Youth Justice and community safety?
- 14 March 2019
On January 25, 2019, the #WorthaSecondChance Youth Justice Campaign and the CREATE Foundation collaborated on a Kitchen Table Conversation to speak with young people with lived experience of the out of home care sector about their thoughts, ideas and suggestions on Youth Justice and community safety. The Kitchen Table Conversation involved eight young people involved…
Submission to the Australian Human Rights Commission’s OPCAT in Australia Consultation Paper: Stage Two
- 16 October 2018
Jesuit Social Services welcomes the opportunity to respond to the Australian Human Rights Commission’s second consultation paper on the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT). On 21 December 2017, the Australian Government ratified OPCAT. OPCAT requires independent inspections of all places of detention in Australia. These will…
All alone: Young adults in the Victorian justice system
- 11 September 2018
Jesuit Social Services believes that prison should always be a last resort. We acknowledge that sometimes prison is necessary, particularly in cases of violent crime. But when a State takes the serious step of removing a person’s liberty, certain standards must be met to ensure the human rights of those incarcerated, to rehabilitate detainees and…
Inquiry into the adequacy of youth diversionary programs in NSW
- 15 February 2018
Jesuit Social Services welcomes the opportunity to respond to the Legislative Assembly Committee on Law and Safety’s inquiry into the adequacy of youth diversionary programs in NSW. Effective youth justice responses recognise the underlying factors that contribute to offending, and seek to address them and prevent entrenchment in the justice system. In our submission we…
Sentencing Guidelines Council for Victoria: Issues Paper
- 3 January 2018
Jesuit Social Services welcomes the opportunity to put forward our views on the Sentencing Advisory Council’s issues paper on the creation of a sentencing guidelines council in Victoria. As a starting point, we affirm the long standing principles of our judicial system, including: The independence of the judiciary The presumption of innocence The protection of the…
Outsourcing Community Safety: Can private prisons work for public good?
- 17 November 2017
Outsourcing Community Safety: Can private prisons work for public good? raises a number of questions about the purpose of prisons and the role of private providers. Prisons have a purpose and an opportunity: rehabilitation must be their focus, a chance to work towards a safer community. We urgently need to know whether privatisation is the…
Flourishing Communities: Taking lessons from place-based approaches, justice reinvestment and social cohesion
- 17 November 2017
Making Australian communities safer requires something more than the current policies on offer. The ever-increasing amount of money poured into prisons is not making us safer and could be put to much better use. Overlapping lessons drawn from place-based approaches to addressing disadvantage, justice reinvestment and social cohesion strategies reveal the ‘better use’ to which…
Submission to the ALRC Discussion Paper: Incarceration Rates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples
- 4 October 2017
Jesuit Social Services welcomes the opportunity to respond to the Australian Law Reform Commission Discussion Paper: Incarceration Rates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. We believe the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the criminal justice system is a national disgrace. More than two decades ago, the report of the Royal…
Submission to the Law Council of Australia's Justice Project
- 4 October 2017
Jesuit Social Services welcomes the opportunity to provide feedback on the Justice Project’s consultation papers regarding access to justice in Australia. Our submission specifically responds to the Justice Project’s issue paper on people with disability. Our comments focus on the particular situation of people with acquired brain injury (ABI) who interact with the criminal justice…
Recognition respect and support: Enabling justice for people with acquired brain injuries
- 21 September 2017
In 2011, Corrections Victoria reported that 42 per cent of men and 33 per cent of women, in a sample of the Victorian prison population, had been diagnosed with acquired brain injury (ABI); this compares with just two per cent across the general population. The extraordinary overrepresentation of people with ABI in Victorian prisons reflects…