Australia spends up to $30 billion each year running its criminal justice system – across police, courts and prisons – yet one statistic has barely shifted in decades: About one in two people released from custody will return within two years.
The Stubborn Statistic of Recidivism
For criminologist and author Professor Mark Halsey, that figure which he describes as “stubborn” has shaped much of his career. Criminal justice institutions, he says, represent the most concentrated and legitimate use of state power in society. They also tap into vast public resources. But beyond the massive budget lies a more pressing question: Are they solving crime, or entrenching it?
“These are the most pointed sites of social control,” he says. “When you’ve got that level of power over individuals, it needs to be carefully understood and scrutinised.”
Over decades of research – including long-term studies tracking offenders and extensive interviews with prisoners – he has examined how Australia’s justice system functions and where it falls short. One of the clearest measures of success is recidivism, the rate at which people return to prison or community-based orders within two years of release. “It’s a very stubborn statistic,” he says. “Around one in two people return to custody within two years. That hasn’t shifted much at all.”
Challenges After Release
Part of the problem, he argues, lies in what happens after release. Probation and parole officers are often stretched thin, limiting the support available to those trying to reintegrate. “Often those staff are oversubscribed,” he says. “They might have 50 to 80 clients on the books for a single officer. The ability to offer meaningful, constructive support in the days and weeks and months after prison is limited. Appointments can run 15 or 20 minutes, maybe half an hour, with some basic questions – but not properly get to the real issues that might leave someone on the cusp of reoffending.”
Disproportionate Impact on Indigenous and Female Prisoners
The patterns are not evenly spread. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people remain dramatically over-represented in prison. Nationally, about one in three people behind bars now identify as Indigenous; a decade ago, it was closer to one in five. Female imprisonment is also rising, often linked to trauma, domestic violence and substance misuse.
Drug Use and Rising Costs
Drug use – particularly crystal methamphetamine – has reshaped offending patterns over the past 15 years. Through historical research with young male offenders dating back to the early 2000s, he observed how the emergence of methamphetamine coincided with sharp escalations in criminal activity. “You could almost track when someone started using it,” he says. “Their offending ramped up dramatically.”
Meanwhile, the cost of imprisonment continues to climb. Australia spends around $6 billion a year on corrections alone, and projections suggest that figure could exceed $7 billion by 2030 if trends continue. Prison numbers continue to grow faster than the rate of the national population over the past decade.
A New Research Initiative: The ARC Centre of Excellence for Prisoner Reintegration
But he is clear that his work is not simply about diagnosing failure. “We have some very specific things we want to achieve,” he says. To do this, Professor Halsey is leading a prestigious Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Prisoner Reintegration (CEPR). This will be backed by $35 million in Australian government funding over the next seven years and will drive research into reducing re-incarceration rates, advancing social cohesion and community wellbeing. The collaborative centre, based at Flinders University, will unite leading international expertise, and have support from 41 partners, including government departments and First Nations organisations.
Building a National Reintegration Database
Professor Halsey and his colleagues are also working toward building a national reintegration database – one that could be accessed by corrections agencies across the country. The idea is simple: Document and share the success stories of former drug offenders, young offenders, people convicted of burglary or break and enter – and how they turned their lives around. “We want a database that’s based around success, rather than trying to engineer our way out of a social problem on the basis of failure,” he says.
It would also mean redefining how success is measured. Recidivism, he argues, is a blunt instrument. If half of those released from prison return within two years, then the system needs not just reform – but a new way of understanding what works.
A Team of Teams Approach
He is also quick to point out that none of the work is his alone. “As an academic, you’re only as good as the people you work with,” he says. “I’ve got outstanding colleagues – people who specialise in quantitative analysis, others in qualitative research, people who understand governance, who can broker strong industry partnerships, who work closely with First Nations communities and build trust, and others who collaborate with international agencies.”
He describes it as a “team of teams” approach – a network of expertise that makes large-scale reform possible. “Any success we’ve had is down to that group,” he says.
