1013CCJ Molly Evans policy proposal

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_________________________________________________________________________ 1013CCJ INTRODUCTION TO CRIMINOLOGY AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE ASSESSMENT 3 ASSESSMENT FORM _________________________________________________________________________ Student name: Molly Evans Student number: s5260168 Course mode: Course convenor: Emily Wright Assessment word length: 2141

Q1. What was your initial reaction to this proposal? Were you for or against it? Explain why. Having previously heard of the proposed trialling of GPS use to track high risk offenders of domestic and family violence my initial reaction was positive towards the proposal. With the number of Domestic violence order applications rising over the past 4 years (Richardson, S, 2023) I think it is important that precautions are implemented to prevent additional offences and breaches of Domestic Violence Orders (DVO) (Queensland Centre for Domestic and Family Violence Research, 2017). There are many positive attributes to this proposal however I did feel hesitant to support it as I feel that the use of electronic monitoring on low-risk offenders could lead to targeted attacks or assaults towards the offender by the surrounding community. This negative possibility is in my opinion greatly outweighed by the protection and safety of the victim and the deterrence for the offender to reoffend. Overall, I feel like the proposal for mandatory electronic monitoring in regard to breaches of DVO’s would be a positive implementation in an attempt to reduce the rates of violence against domestic partners and families.

Q2a. What is the problem the policy proposal intends to address? How does it propose a solution to that problem? The Not Now, Not Ever taskforce report by The Special Taskforce on Domestic and Family Violence in Queensland (2015) included recommendation 123 suggesting the Queensland Government introduce trials of GPS monitoring for high-risk perpetrators of domestic and family violence. The goal of this policy is to contribute to the end of domestic and family violence and increase victim safety through the prevention of reoffending for high-risk perpetrators with domestic violence orders. There are many different types of abuse however one of the most common forms of abuse in Australia is domestic violence. There are multiple forms in which victims of domestic violence are abused, these include physical, sexual, emotional, and financial with no one set age or gender of victims. As of 2021 statistics show that in that year alone 1 in 6 women and 1 in 18 men experienced physical domestic violence (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2023), this high number is the target of the proposal. Although the proposal would not protect the victims completely, if implemented it would likely deter the perpetrator from reoffending. As stated by the Queensland Government the goal of this policy is to protect people who are already victims of domestic violence through the use of GPS monitoring to alert police if an offender violates their DVO. After a victim has experienced domestic violence they can petition for a domestic violence order which is a court order designed to protect the aggrieved and their children or relatives. The DVO itself is designed to prevent more violence against the victims however unless a violation is reported it is almost impossible for police to know whether a violation has occurred. The proposed policy would allow authorities to be alerted if the respondent’s location violates the protection order. Since 2017, DVO breaches have been increasing with the largest increase in 2022 to 2023 with 39,182 offenses of contraventions against domestic violence orders recorded. (Richardson, S, 2023). Overall, this prevention is proposed to be one part of a safety plan and not a single implementation strategy used to improve the feelings of safety for the victims of domestic violence. The trials for the policy are already underway in Caboolture, Ipswich, Rockhampton and Cairns for high-risk offenders, the policy will use GPS monitoring already used for individuals on bail and parole to track high-risk offenders who have committed domestic violence. Q2b. If implemented, how would victims and the broader community likely react to the policy?

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If the policy was implemented it is not easy to generalise how all victim’s would feel with the possibility of being alerted that the perpetrator of their abuse has breached their DVO. There are multiple types of victims all of which would be affected by the policy. This includes the direct victims of the abuse such as the intimate partner and their children as well as the indirect victims who have also been impacted such as the victims immediate family, neighbours and friends who feel unsafe with the victim out of detention. Advocation for implementing the policy states that victims would overall feel safer (Nancarrow, H., & Modini, T, 2018)., this is likely due to the misconception that they would be notified every time the perpetrator attempts contact. With the GPS devices shown to not be 100% accurate (Queensland Police Service, 2019) victims may have an exaggerated sense of safety or with alerts misfiring they may become less trusting in the validity of each alert creating the potential for no action in a dangerous situation. Additionally, police may stop responding to alerts with such importance after multiple false alerts making the victim feel more at risk. It could also be possible that victims would not feel safer but instead feel more guarded and on edge knowing that their transmitter could alert at any time causing even more stress and paranoia to an already vulnerable person. It is clear that whichever way the victim feels there will be a sense of preparedness knowing that if their abuser does attempt to violate the protection order there is a high chance that the victim will be given time to flee or prepare instead of the unknowing from no tracking. To make sure victims feel more confident about this policy more research efforts should be invested to make the GPS tracking more responsive and accurate greatly improving the degree of certainty for both victims and the police responding. With GPS tracking being implemented for offenders of domestic and family violence the broader community would likely become aware of why a person would be wearing a tracking device, especially being in the form of an ankle bracelet which would often be visible in Queensland heat. This clear indication of a person’s crimes could lead to the ostracization of offenders with the community not wanting to acknowledge or correspond with an abuser. If the policy was implemented for low-risk abusers as the Queensland police services evaluation report recommends there could be large stigmatisations that said offenders are violent or possibly sexual offenders due to the Dangerous Prisoners (Sexual Offenders) Act 2003 (Queensland Government, 2020) that uses GPS monitoring. Additionally, the community could become more fearful with the knowledge that a high-risk offender lives in their neighbourhood, this could lead to false rumours, influxes of police callouts and people feeling unsafe in their homes.

Q2c. Choose two ‘arms’ within the criminal justice system (police, courts, corrections) and discuss the likely effects on those two agencies should the policy be implemented. The two main areas of the criminal justice system that would be most affected by the implementation of the GPS monitoring policy would be the police and the corrections. These areas would face the most strain due to the influx of additional charges and workload, including the monitoring of the GPS equipment and alerts with the cost of GPS monitoring ranging from $36 to $52 a day per prisoner as mentioned in the Not Now, Not Ever report. With the goal of the monitoring being to catch breaches in domestic violence orders, which is a criminal offence, there is an increase in demand for action from both the policing units and the corrections when they face their penalties. With imprisonment being the most common penalty for violations in Queensland last year, implementing any policy that will likely cause more imprisonment if penalties occur will increase the population in prisons. The estimated cost of imprisonment was $61,179 per prisoner in 2014 according to the Australian Institute of Criminology (2018), with the likelihood of more offenders facing penalties there could be an increased strain on the prison system’s resources. As seen with police officers responsible for GPS monitoring for other offenders on bail there is an increase in responsibilities that were non-existent before. These roles include not only monitoring the GPS activity but also fitting the device and teaching the offender the locational restrictions of their monitoring device and how to charge it. When Queensland’s police service trialled the use of GPS monitoring devices for perpetrators of domestic and family violence it was found that officers would need extensive training on how to interpret data from the monitoring system. With the demand for more specialised knowledge to understand the tracking system frontline police officers’ workload would greatly increase as well as their required training after the policy was implemented (Queensland Police Service, 2019). Additionally, there would be a heavier demand for in-depth case management in order to effectively reduce the risk of the person reoffending alongside the GPS monitoring. If the use of the device fails to prevent reoffending policing staff would need to interpret the data, dispatch officers and then the officers would need to respond as soon as possible to de- escalate, protect the victims and detain the offender. After the in-depth training of police officers, if the device did help to deter reoffending there could be fewer emergency calls made from victims. However, during trials, one in four breaches triggered no alert resulting in the need for additional surveillance and monitoring of DVOs, increasing workload.

Q2d. Given all the information you have provided in Q2a-Q2c, would you recommend the policy be implemented? What are the principal reasons for this recommendation? Are there any caveats? With the safety of domestic and family violence victims being a high priority for the state of Queensland in the eyes of the government, the recommendation 123 from the Not Now, Not Ever report should be implemented as part of a larger safety plan. The recommended policy’s goal is to mitigate and minimise the risk of high-risk offenders from reoffending and causing more distress and harm to victims and their families. The use of GPS tracking would act as a deterrence from reoffending for some of the offenders and additionally increase policing ability to respond to violations of domestic violence orders. The GPS monitoring used for high-risk perpetrators will alert the victims if there is potential of their offender being nearby, giving them time to remove themselves from the situation and get themselves and their children or family to safety. During the Queensland government’s trial of GPS monitoring for offenders of domestic and family violence there were multiple cases of the tracking device not triggering during a breach of their DVO. This in addition to the time delay from the occurrence of the breach to the alert through the monitoring system, the use of GPS devices needs great improvement before it can be applied as a safety plan itself. However, I would recommend that the policy be applied in conjunction with additional safety precautions for the victims. The tracking device can help provide evidence of a breach during a court hearing benefiting both the victim and the policing system in the offender facing penalties for a violation. There are still types of abuse the offender can engage in without notifying the police of a violation through coercive control and abuse through the use of text messaging or calls. Focusing on protecting victims after the offender has been charged by employing tracking alongside a court order will work to reduce the risk of additional abuse and allow the victim a feeling of safety.

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Q3. How (and why) did your reflections your initial reaction to the policy proposal change in light of what you learned from completing Q2a-Q2d? Through reading the Not Now, Not Ever report recommendation 123 in addition to the Queensland Government’s report of the trialling of GPS monitoring to prevent breaches in DVOs, my original reaction and opinions have changed only marginally. The positive potential to protect victims of domestic violence and increase accountability and deterrence for perpetrators greatly outweighs the risks of stigmatisation and exclusion from communities that the monitoring device would bring to the perpetrator. I still believe that the policy should be implemented however I feel that through learning about the moderate level of accuracy as depicted in the Queensland police evaluation report implementing it only for high-risk offenders will lead to a false sense of safety for victims most at risk. With a more in-depth understanding of how this policy will impact the policing system with a higher demand for action and knowledge when responding and interpreting data, it is clear that this policy is a large undertaking. However, despite the limitations during the trialling 3 in 4 breaches were recorded allowing police to take action to increase the safety of victims with DVOs. It is clear that this policy is not a stand-alone protection for all victims but I still feel that this policy should be implemented across Queensland, especially in areas with high numbers of DVOs.

References Australian Institute of Criminology. (2018). Research Report: How Much Does it Really Cost? Comparing the Costs of Imprisonment with Community Corrections (No.5). Australian Government. https://www.aic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-05/rr_05_240418_2.pdf Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2023, November 24). Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence: FDSV summary. Australian Government. https://www.aihw.gov.au/family-domestic-and-sexual-violence/resources/fdsv-summary#common Nancarrow, H., & Modini, T. (2018). Electronic monitoring in the context of domestic and family violence: Report for the Queensland Department of Justice and Attorney-General . Sydney. https://d2rn9gno7zhxqg.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/22233751/anrows-electronic- monitoring.pdf Queensland Centre for Domestic and Family Violence Research. (2017). Understanding a DVO . Queensland Government. https://noviolence.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/FS_OB_UnderstandingDVO.pdf Queensland Government. (2020). Dangerous Prisoners (Sexual Offenders) Act 2003. https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/view/whole/html/inforce/current/act-2003-040 Queensland Government. GPS Monitoring in the Domestic and Family Violence Context: Fact Sheet . Department of Child Safety, Youth and Women. https://www.publications.qld.gov.au/ckan- publications-attachments-prod/resources/b9bb04d0-3f5a-48b3-ad2c-df79dcc123cd/public-gps- factsheet.pdf?ETag=184170314a8a938ec61d65dc87d328f2 Queensland Police Service. (2019, April). The Domestic and Family Violence GPS-enabled Electronic Monitoring Technology: Evaluation Report . Queensland Government. https://www.publications.qld.gov.au/ckan-publications-attachments-prod/resources/2a943b54-8fa6- 4635-b781-9a78a83bd608/gps-evaluation-report.pdf?ETag=22cab3d80ddc68e8f33519e60ec1e9f8 Richardson, S. (2023, October 17). Domestic Violence Statistics 2023. Damiengreer lawyers. https://damiengreer.com.au/family-law/statistics/domestic-violence-statistics-australia/ The Special Taskforce on Domestic and Family Violence in Queensland (2015, February 28). Not Now, Not Ever: Putting an End to Domestic and Family Violence in Queenland. Queensland Government https://www.publications.qld.gov.au/dataset/16330158-3152-436f-8d58-baeff2dd87ad/resource/ 533db62b-b2c9-43cc-a5ff-f9e1bc95c7c7/download/dfv-report-vol-one.pdf

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