Making Justice Work is a coalition of community organisations with a common interest in effective responses to crime in the Northern Territory.

Coalition spokesperson Wendy Morton commends the ambitious justice targets in the NT Government’s Aboriginal Affairs Strategy.i “These targets are consistent with the published Making Justice Work principles” explained Ms Morton.

Ms Morton said “The cost to Territorians of achieving these targets will see a big saving in Territory budgets that can be better spent on education and making communities safer”.

“Making Justice Work looks forward to working with the NT Government to develop evidence-based strategies to meet the targets”.

“The Federal Government’s, Closing the Gap framework could take a leaf out of the NT Government’s book in terms of including justice targets alongside other goals to achieve parity of health and wellbeing status between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians” said Ms Morton.

“Making Justice Work is keen to see the detail of the soon-to-be-released, justice review consultation report. It is heartening to hear that the Chief Minister is considering justice reinvestment approaches, repealing the paperless arrest laws, and addressing mass incarceration for short periods of time and un-sentenced imprisonment”

The NT Government’s Aboriginal Affairs Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Framework proposes 4 justice targets:

1. To reduce incarceration rates of adults by 50 per cent by 2030

2. To reduce the incarceration rate of juveniles by 50 per cent by 2030

3. To reduce prisoner recidivism by 50 per cent by 2030

4. To reduce by 10 per cent per annum victim-based crime offences against the person or property per 100,000 population, respectively.

In 2015, Amnesty International reported that the rate at which Indigenous young people are detained in the Northern Territory has been higher than the national average rate between July 2013 and June 2014 (38.17 per 10,000 Indigenous young people in the Northern Territory, compared to 34.47 per 10,000 Indigenous young people nationally).ii

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