The Community Restorative Centre’s Miranda Project today received the gold award in the 2022 Australian Crime and Violence Prevention Awards (ACVPAs).
Now in their 30th year, the ACVPAs recognise best practice in the prevention or reduction of violence and other types of crime in Australia. They play a vital role in highlighting effective community-based initiatives to prevent crime and violence, before it actually occurs.
Commencing in 2017, the Miranda Project (Project) supports women in contact with, or at risk of contact with, the criminal justice system who have been impacted by domestic and family violence. The Project is delivered by the Community Restorative Centre.
“It is an innovative, gender-specific program which provides specialist, holistic, trauma-informed case work and case management, based on a long-term relational and outreach model of support,” said Marisa Moliterno, Manager of the Miranda Project.
It is co-located with a Women’s Health Centre, which provides a safe social space and access to groups offering psycho-educational, social and recreational activities supported by specialist criminal justice and domestic and family violence workers.
The Project assists vulnerable women attending court, on community orders or exiting prison, with the aim of halting the increase in the women’s prison population through the provision of genuine support and the development of alternative pathways within the community.
“This award today acknowledges the lasting effects of the Miranda Project on the lives of women impacted by domestic and family violence, including increased safety, increased rates of women remaining in the community, increased housing stability, financial wellbeing, and compliance with community orders,” said Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) Deputy Director, Dr Rick Brown.
These annual awards recognise the outstanding contributions being made across Australia for crime prevention, including the development and implementation of practical projects to reduce violence and other types of crime in the community.
The awards are a joint initiative of the Australian, state and territory governments and are delivered by the AIC. All projects are assessed each year by the ACVPA Board, which consists of senior law enforcement representatives from each state and territory police service, and is chaired by the AIC Director.
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