Jesuit Social Services in Australia has launched an initiative to assist people in the criminal justice system with an acquired brain injury (ABI). The Enabling Justice Project is a three-year initiative in the state of Victoria and is undertaken in partnership with RMIT University’s Centre for Innovative Justice. The project includes the formation of an Australian-first user group to address the overrepresentation of people with acquired brain injuries (ABIs) in the criminal justice system.
Julie Edwards, CEO of Jesuit Social Services, told Australia’s SBS in an interview that one study by Corrections Victoria showed that about 42 per cent of men and 33 per cent of women in prison had a confirmed ABI.
During the launch on October 29, Ms Edwards and other speakers including Rob Hulls, Director, Centre for Innovative Justice, RMIT University; Luke Cornelius, Assistant Commissioner, Victoria Police Southern Metro Region; and Michael Bourke, Country Court Judge; outlined some of the barriers faced by people with ABIs in accessing the criminal justice system, and how the project will lobby and advocate for change.
“Where it is possible, we want to divert people with acquired brain injuries away from the justice system,” said Ms Edwards. “But we also want to educate people involved in the justice system to allow them to vary their practices, and to ensure people with ABIs get the appropriate communication, resources and support they need to navigate the criminal justice system.”
In the interview with SBS, Ms Edwards said that many people entering the justice system were not identified as having a brain injury until they entered the system.
“We have a vulnerable group whose ABI has perhaps never been picked up, but who perhaps had an early life injury or through their substance abuse or some other reason, after birth acquired a brain injury and it’s not always known that this person has that,” she said.
According to Ms Edwards, people with an ABI can struggle with poor memory, reduced concentration, poor problem solving skills and at times poor impulse control.
“That doesn’t work well in a system like say prison where you really need to be able to keep your head down and following orders,” she said.
In an opinion piece about the project in the Herald Sun, Rob Hulls wrote: “We need to make those individuals visible, to build a platform for their stories to be heard. More broadly, we need to start acknowledging the reality of our prison demographics and the road that brings so many to the criminal justice system’s door. It is only then that we can set out on to constructive terrain, disrupting that trajectory from victim to offender and, in doing so, making our communities safer for all.”
Over coming months, Jesuit Social Services will convene a Justice User Group of up to 15 people with ABIs and experience with the criminal justice system as well as their family members and carers.
The group will meet regularly over the next 18 months to enable participants to identify and promote changes to the criminal justice system to make it more responsive and receptive to the experiences of people living with ABI.
The Enabling Justice Project is funded by a A$250,000 grant administered by the Office of the Public Advocate. [Jesuit Social Services, SBS, Herald Sun]
To listen to Julie Edward’s interview with SBS, click here.
For more information about Jesuit Social Services, visit www.jss.org.au.