NCJ Number
82646
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 44 Issue: 2 Dated: (April 1982) Pages: 12-15
Date Published
1982
Length
4 pages
Annotation
The article highlights the origins, concepts, and philosophy of Australian corrections. Western cultural influences on Australian corrections are noted.
Abstract
New South Wales, Australia's first State, was founded as an English penal colony in 1788. The early regimes were intentionally harsh in the interests of deterrence. A ticket-of-leave system emerged to permit a prisoner still under sentence to earn a living; by 1837 about 25 percent of all prisoners had such tickets. Australia's prison reformers of the 19th century were influential both in Australia and abroad. They stopped excessive and indiscriminate floggings and other harsh practices. All Australian correctional services are State services, and they have no Federal counterparts. Each State has its own separate criminal justice system. The independence of the States, the differences in their economic endowments, and the enormous distances separating urban areas across the continent ensure diversity in correctional philosophy and practice. The State legal systems are all Anglo-Saxon, and the concepts of corrections are essentially British, although developments in Europe and the United States are taken into account. Australia has about 70 penal institutions of various security levels. Riots, homosexual rape, and drug smuggling exist in Australian corrections as they do elsewhere. Each State has its own chronicle of correctional development and is suspicious of national approaches that are likely to increase Federal power. However, since 1973 when the Institute of Criminology was established, a more coordinated approach to corrections, with cooperation from other Asian countries in the region, has developed. The Institute and its duties and activities are briefly described. No references are cited.