[Paradigm Shift 4ZZZ fm 102.1  Ian and Andy 12 June 2015]

Justice Re-investment Program in Cowra
Andy interview Jill Guthrie a researcher from the ANU. They discussed the underlying causes of crime and alternatives to prison.

The town of Cowra in western NSW has held a public meeting to consider alternatives to jail and how to better spend the $46 million spent on incarcerating Cowra citizens over the past 10 years.

“The Cowra forum decided that about 50 percent of the costs of incarceration – some $23 million – had been spent for crimes such as traffic, drug, public order or justice procedure offences, which could be considered as amenable to a Justice Reinvestment approach.

The town will attempt to reinvest that money into the community – into a Safe House, a Halfway House, skills training, housing the homeless and similar positive initiatives that address the underlying causes of crime rather than sending young people away to detention.

Andy and Ian discussed prison abolition and the positive steps being taken in this new research.

Andy and Ian also discussed BDS. Some background discussion to the BDS campaign to isolaate Apartheid Israel can be found in the PShift archives see below.

Community announcement – World Refugee Day festival at Annerley Soccer Park and Wicked Pickets stall at Davies Park West End Markets on Saturday 13 June 2015.

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