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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 8 Hansard (9 August) . . Page.. 2637 ..


MR MOORE (continuing):

The Rehabilitation of Offenders (Interim) Bill 2001 will enable the establishment of a home detention scheme and increase the authority and efficiency of the Parole Board, which is to be known as the Sentence Administration Board. Home detention is to be introduced for both adults and young people as a remand option where bail has been denied and as a means of serving a period of imprisonment or committal to an institution of not more than 18 months.

Home detention will be made available for young people in keeping with the government's commitment to offer intensive supervision to young people whilst maintaining them within their family and community. The operation of the home detention program will be consistent with the principles of the Children and Young People Act 1999.

Members will note that this is an interim bill. That is because it is one step in the process of reviewing all adult corrections legislation in order to unify and modernise the operations of the correctional system. However, as this term of the Assembly comes to a close, and with little available sitting time before the pre and post election period, the government believes that the material in this interim bill warrants immediate attention.

Before detailing the contents of the bill, I would like to give a brief indication of the wider review of legislation. Research into adult criminal legislation across Australia reveals that relevant legislation is generally classified into three categories: legislation prescribing what constitutes a criminal offence; legislation which provides for the sentencing dispositions available to the courts; and legislation dealing with correctional issues regarding implementation of a sentence.

At present, both criminal offence issues and sentence processes in the ACT are included in the Crimes Act 1900. Correctional issues are dealt with by a number of acts, including the Remand Centres Act, the Periodic Detention Act, parts 15 to 15B of the Crimes Act, the Supervision of Offenders (Community Services Orders) Act, the Custodial Escorts Act, the Removal of Prisoners Act and the Parole Act. In the process of developing legislation for the prison, the territory has the opportunity to consolidate into one instrument current legislation across a variety of correctional issues. Furthermore, in the process of consolidating correctional legislation, we have the opportunity to provide for a truly innovative systemic approach to correctional intervention.

As a prison is introduced into the territory, we must ensure that the focus on expanding and strengthening alternatives to imprisonment is not lost and that we remain focused on our objectives. Our primary objective in the treatment of offenders is to maximise community safety and to promote offender rehabilitation. Imprisonment is the most severe sanction accepted by our society. As such, it should be reserved for those individuals or offence types that pose the greatest risk to the community.

It is well documented that prisons are the most costly sentencing option and the least effective in rehabilitative terms. There is also strong evidence that alternative treatment programs and methods implemented in the community produce positive rehabilitative results. The government has established such programs in adult community corrections and is currently expanding treatment programs for people detained at the Periodic Detention Centre and the Belconnen Remand Centre. Empirically sound assessment instruments are being used to identify offenders posing the greatest risk of reoffending


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