Community corrections

Speech delivered to the Queensland Department of Correctional Services, Cairns, June 8, 2000 by Adam Graycar, Director, Australian Institute of Criminology. This speech is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/In the 5 years from 1993-4 to 1998-9 the Community Corrections population has risen by 28% (from 15,147 to 19,390 - daily average) while at the same time the prison population has risen by 123% (from 2259 to 5044 - daily average). Unlike prison which is a punishment exacted against freedom of movement and association or a fine punishment exacted against money, a community sentence is a punishment exacted against time and energy, but also has potential for enormous positives. Community Corrections is a growth business which is under great community and political pressure, and operates within a context of social change; it can help the State's economy; it is a risk management exercise with very high stakes, and involves significant professional challenges for practitioners