Response To Discussion Paper 3: Women and girls’ experiences across the criminal justice system
In April 2022 QNADA provided a submission to the third discussion paper of the Women’s Safety and Justice Taskforce – Women and girls experiences across the criminal justice system. The submission focused on specific questions within the discussion paper, and called for:
- responses that focus on addressing the broader social, cultural, and structural determinants of health, and prioritise alternatives to imprisonment – particularly for low-harm drug offences;
- greater clarity around the main drivers of increased drug related imprisonment and recidivism among women and girls, namely increased law enforcement activity by police, rather than any marked change in community behaviour or attitudes;
- meaningful, transparent consideration to be given to decriminalising low-harm drugs in Queensland, in partnership with peaks and other relevant non-government organisations;
- increased investment in, and provision of, alcohol and other drug treatment and harm reduction services for women and children in contact with the criminal justice system across Queensland;
- the expansion of police diversion to all illicit substances, including the removal of the current requirement to admit to an offence prior to accessing diversion, the removal of limits on the number of times a person can access diversion, and reconsideration of the purpose, delivery and type of interventions provided to people diverted from the criminal justice system;
- recognition that, even in the context of increased investment by the Queensland Government, there remains gaps in the treatment system and, although most people who use alcohol and other drugs never require treatment or help, for every dollar invested in treatment and harm reduction there is a seven dollar return[1];
- people deprived of their liberty for drug related offending to be provided voluntary and evidence-based health services, including harm reduction and drug treatment services, as well as essential medicines, including HIV and Hepatitis C services, at a standard that is equivalent to that in the community in accordance with the International Guidelines on Human Rights and Drug Policy[2].
The submission also highlights significant and ongoing concerns with the recent introduction of section 229BC of the Criminal Code (Failure to report sexual offending against a child to police) in Queensland. Although the need to ensure adults are appropriately protecting children and young people from sexual abuse is beyond question, the amendments have significant implications for the support provided by non-government AOD services to people who have experienced child sexual abuse. These implications are inherently problematic as:
- a significant proportion of those who access AOD services have complex histories of abuse and trauma (including child sexual abuse), poor experiences with police and other statutory bodies and a general distrust in services (particularly for those who use illicit drugs);
- it is key for victim-survivors to have access to services they trust and can safely to disclose to, and section 229BC inhibits disclosure for those who do not wish to engage with police – this correspondingly impacts treatment outcomes, impedes future service engagement and increases the likelihood of future harm;
- the reality is conviction rates are low and many victim-survivors do not want to engage in often confusing, invasive, lengthy and traumatic criminal justice proceedings;
- although the amendments respond to findings of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, they are not consistent with the Royal Commission’s findings in relation to the challenges faced by victim-survivors in disclosing such abuse.
The submission calls for urgent review of the provisions, seeking to repeal the amendments or include clear exclusions to ensure Queenslanders who have experienced child sexual abuse can safely disclose that abuse in therapeutic settings and receive effective support for the well-known physical and psychological impacts of trauma.
[1] Alison Ritter et al., “New Horizons: The Review of Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Services in Australia,” in Final Report (Sydney: University of New South Wales, 2014).
[2] https://www.undp.org/library/international-guidelines-human-rights-and-drug-policy