Let's work together for an effective and connected approach to justice in WA!
In the absence of appropriate services to address disadvantage, countless families across WA are struggling. As a result, our justice system is in crisis, to the detriment of our community’s safety and wellbeing. Social and economic hardship is a leading cause of individuals ending up in gaol. The amount of people we are putting in prison is sky-rocketing. For Aboriginal people in WA the situation is particularly dire. We imprison Aboriginal people at the highest rates per population in the world.
Our high recidivism rates are proof that locking people up is failing to prevent crime and reform offenders. We are trapping disadvantaged and at-risk community members into an endless cycle of imprisonment, which is having damaging flow-on effects on individuals and their families. Sending people to prison is swallowing up resources we could be spending on addressing inequality and improving the welfare of all Western Australians.
WA needs to place the wellbeing of individuals and families at the centre of its approach to social issues. Our approach needs to be visionary and evidence based. Evidence shows that reinvesting resources into prevention and early intervention strategies which address the underlying causes of crime is more effective and less expensive than imprisonment. Social Reinvestment WA is a group of leaders from the Community Services Sector who have a new vision for justice in WA. Our group is campaigning to government and the wider WA community to support a Social Reinvestment approach to justice, to create healthy families, smart justice and safe communities and reduce the over-representation of Aboriginal people in our prisons.
Social Reinvestment WA has created a large body of resources, research and infrastructure but we need community support to make our vision a reality. We ask that you be part of the solution to WA’s justice crisis by donating to our cause. The funds you contribute will allow us to lobby our elected officials in the lead up to the 2017 WA State election. You can help us shift the perception of government and the community and work towards making WA a leader in promoting community safety, social wellbeing and inclusive justice for all people.
Social Reinvestment makes economic and social sense and is better for all of us, better for families and better for our community.
What your contributions will create:
• With just $1000, we could run a community forum on justice in a disadvantaged suburb.
• With $3000 we could film a professional viral campaign video, to promote online to
Western Australians.
• With $10,000 we can commission research to document the stories and experiences of
people and communities across the justice system, or construct detailed data mapping portraying the systemic issues and communities at risk.
• With $15,000 we can travel to do outreach consultations with at risk communities in remote parts of the state to enable them to voice their community’s needs.
• With $30,000 we could hire a full time Campaign manager for six months, to direct this movement, and further our cause – engaging the public, government, and community sector consistently to create a Coalition of change under the guidance of our working group.
• With $60,000 we could hire a Campaign manager full time for a whole year!
• With $100,000 we could hold public community forums in each major corridor of Perth,
hire a Campaign Manager and a Project Officer, run a viral marketing video
• With $250,000 we could hold public community forums throughout the entire state, hire a Campaign Manager and a Project Officer, run a viral marketing campaign, engage the public and the government through numerous events and campaign initiatives over a year.
Every little bit counts!
