Why are more people than ever behind bars in Australia?

In Australia, more people are behind bars than ever, and the spending on prisons is up. But data says crime levels aren’t actually worse. And research shows prisons don’t make prisoners any less likely to offend.

So what is going on, and why? What else could we do?

Today we were joined by Dr Emma Russell and Dr Naama Blatman, who have recently taken a closer look at what’s happening with Australia’s prisons.

Dr Russell is Associate Professor in Crime, Justice and Legal Studies at La Trobe University.

Dr Blatman is Scientia Senior Lecturer with the Cities Institute, at the University of New South Wales.

 

Want to find out more?
Article in The Conversation: Prisons don’t create safer communities, so why is Australia spending billions on building them?