With a series of high-profile cases in the news, parole is back in the spotlight. Let’s unpack some of the most common misconceptions about what parole really means.
Understaffing and budget cuts mean prisoners often struggle to complete rehab programmes, even when they want to. ACT’s Parole Amendment Bill risks having the opposite of its intended effect.
Research on developing brains has helped bring about a sea change in attitudes toward juvenile life without parole. But many people who committed crimes as minors are still serving such sentences.
The court should have given the public a much clearer understanding of how it came to its decision, and what consideration it had given to public opinion.
‘No body, no parole’ laws may at first appear to be in the public interest. But there’s a lack of evidence they work and a risk they may disproportionately penalise the wrongfully convicted.
Myles Sanderson was given statutory release from prison prior to a stabbing rampage that left 10 people dead. But a legal expert says his case is unrepresentative of how people behave on this form of release.
Some prisoners love and care for each other, but others physically, verbally and emotionally abuse each other. These offences can threaten safety and the good order of the prison.
Under new WA legislation, the state’s attorney-general has the power to order serial killers and mass murders remain in jail, sometimes without judicial review.
Programs that allow individuals to be supervised in the community instead of in prison are growing in a way that is not sustainable and is contributing to mass incarceration rather than relieving it.
Upholding victims’ rights on parole decisions means respectfully enabling their active participation in decisions that affect their personal interests.
Proposed new laws will restrict parole and bail to those merely associated in some way with terrorism, even when they have not be arrested for – or convicted of – a specific terrorism offence.
States and territories have agreed to strengthen their laws to ensure a presumption against granting bail or parole when people had ‘demonstrated support for, or have links to, terrorist activity’.
Professor in Law and Co-Convener National Security Hub (University of Canberra) and Research Fellow (adjunct) - The Security Institute for Governance and Leadership in Africa, Faculty of Military Science, Stellenbosch University- NATO Fellow Asia-Pacific, University of Canberra