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The Issues

As of March 2007, 77,451 men and women in Australia were under the authority of custodial services.

Of that, 25,801 were in full time custody within 84 correctional centres around the country (with another 6 centres currently under construction or about to commence).

(Australian Bureau of Statistics 2007 March quarter report).

That figure is 6% higher than the year before.

For each individual in that situation, there are on average 3-4 family
members directly affected.

So it is a very real and growing issue in our communities and a reflection of issues in overall Society.

If nothing is done, if nothing positive intervenes, if hope and meaning are not available options for a different life - the cycle will remain and it can only get worse.

However, let's look a little further into these issues to really understand the problem.

Juvenile Crime

Statistics show that:

• 75% of the children of people involved in crime will themselves end up involved in crime at some level.
• Most juveniles commit a crime to either 'fit in' with their peers, to 'stand out' or to impress someone whose approval they seek. It doesn't take much for 'a' crime to become a lifestyle.
• Most juvenile offenders are a function of their environment. They often cannot recognise that they have choices and that alternatives to crime are real options for them. They are usually from broken homes, with minimal (if any) positive role models that can help them grow to be positive members of their community. Most are dealing with very real issues of isolation, anger, rejection and loneliness.

The Families affected by having someone go to prison are most usually:

• the forgotten victims of crime.
• living without hope or understanding of the future.
• struggling with the potential or the reality of a fractured family structure - often with no warning beforehand.
• living in isolation with a range of negative emotions, feelings and perceptions - whether shame, guilt, fear or worse.
• financially insecure or bereft.

The parent on the 'outside' is left alone to raise the children, who may be ostracised by their peers, and has to deal with their fears and emotions arising from the imprisonment of the other parent as well as all the normal issues of childhood and adolescence.

The men and women serving time

When they hear the words ‘inmate’, ‘prisoner’ or ‘criminal’, a lot of people immediately think of someone who has committed mass murder or another very serious crime. While there is a percentage of inmates serving time for very serious crimes,

• the vast majority of inmates have an aggregate sentence length of less than 5 years with more than half having an aggregate sentence length of less than 2 years (aggregate sentence is all time including the possible parole period) - which means they are not the ‘really bad crims’
• 8-10% of convictions around Australia are for traffic related offences
• a high number of sentences are for drug related crimes - and most of those petty crime
• the vast majority of those serving time have literacy skills of 7th grade or less – with over 50% of them being classed in the illiterate levels
• most inmates come from broken homes, very dysfunctional environments and most have had very poor role models (especially male)
• most women in prison come out of extremely abusive environments - current and from childhood
• approximately 43% of all inmates in an adult prison have been there before and that re-offence (recidivism) rate will continue unless something intervenes in their lives
• most inmates do not realise they have a choice, or if they do, how to act on that choice to make sustainable change for the future

If nothing is done, if nothing intervenes to help them see, with hope, the chance for a different future - one last fact remains. All who are on a cycle (unless they die inside) will be back out in society one day, into the same environment as they left, with either the same or a worse attitude about life and living and with no reason to do things differently.

Kairos makes a difference - because Kairos brings Love,
Acceptance and Forgiveness.