The Victorian Greens say Labor has treated prevention like an afterthought as a new Auditor-General report into youth crime prevention shows that Victoria needs a more coordinated, evidence-based approach to preventing crime.
VAGO found the government’s Youth Crime Prevention Program lacked clear targets and adequate data to determine whether it was reaching the right young people or reducing offending and reoffending.
The Victorian Greens say that VAGO’s findings are unsurprising because Labor has treated prevention like an afterthought.
All over the world from London, to New York, Glasgow to Cardiff – crime has been reduced by properly investing in prevention and taking a coordinated whole-of-government approach.
Instead Labor has chronically underfunded prevention, even cutting funding in half in recent years, and scattered funding for programs across multiple government departments with inadequate oversight and coordination of programs.
Meanwhile, Labor has poured billions of dollars into punitive measures, which actually makes youth crime worse – with evidence showing that the younger people are when they have interactions with the criminal justice system, the more likely they are to reoffend.
The Greens say that of course Labor’s prevention program hasn’t worked when it’s been treated as an afterthought and that if we want to reduce crime, that means properly investing in what works – not offering up a measly amount of money to a scattering of programs while pursuing punitive measures that increase reoffending rates.
As stated by the Victorian Greens justice spokesperson, Katherine Copsey:
“Labor has treated crime prevention as a total afterthought. It’s outrageous for Labor to imply that they’ve invested in what works when they’ve done the exact opposite of that.
“Everywhere around the world that’s achieved reduction of crime, it’s been done by properly investing in prevention. It’s not that prevention doesn’t work – Labor’s chronic neglect of prevention is what’s not worked.
“The Greens want a prevention system that’s coordinated, learns from what works,scales up successful programs and follows the evidence. We’re the only ones taking an evidence-based approach to reducing crime and tackling the root causes. Labor, just like the Liberals, are doing the total opposite.”
