The NSW Government announced expenditure of millions of taxpayer Dollars to build more prisons. Obviously with an expectation more offenders will be gaoled. However I wonder whether we're not trying hard enough to stop this malignancy of growing crime in society, and this erroneous perception the Courts are going soft on lawbreakers, particularly younger, first timers?

I wonder therefore if we could develop better strategies for interrupting this decline into a lifetime of crime at it's source. The young, first-timer who's crime(s) are sufficiently serious, the judiciary sends them to gaol. Why a prison environment? Perhaps some structured 'mandatory' trade training, or rural/agricultural development, but run along a modified military style - And 'most importantly', completely away from the influence of other more seasoned, and hardened criminals?

Criminal activity has to be punished, and there is not enough punishment now.

In my many years of coming across crimminals very few if any are sent to prison until they commit multiple crimes. This is especially true among the Indigenous population.

Sorry o sung wu, when many of these so called first offenders have committed 50 or 60 break-ins, & have the whole lot treated as a first offence, I just can't agree with you.

It is a pity there are no more continents to discover, so we could deport the little buggers.

Now if we had chain gangs, working on the roads, & worked the bludgers really hard, prison on the roadside might be a real deterrent. The holiday camp for crims, the prisons have become is the real problem.

o sung wu,

While assaults are on the rise, the overall crime rate has been going down since the early ‘90s in most Western countries. Since rates have been recorded, the overall crime rate peaked in the ‘70s. If you want to go by murder rates (which are considered the most reliable due to their steadiness and the lack of ambiguity as to what constitutes a murder), then crime peaked in the ‘30s. However, if we were to compare now with all of history, then we’re currently living in the most peaceful times by just about any measure.

The new prisons being built in NSW are possibly due to a combination of an increasing population, increased vigilance (e.g. domestic violence, child sex abuse) more and more acts being criminalised all the time, and mandatory sentencing. I’m not sure. But the statistics from the ABS suggest that a rising crime rate is not the cause.

<<Why a prison environment? Perhaps some structured 'mandatory' trade training, or rural/agricultural development, but run along a modified military style - And 'most importantly', completely away from the influence of other more seasoned, and hardened criminals?>>

There's a lot of research looking into alternatives to prison since, as you allude to, prison is often not ideal. Further to what you suggest, restorative justice measures are proving to be successful in a (so far limited) number of situations.

Your question “Why a prison environment?” is one that is constantly asked by criminologists. Prison is problematic for all sorts of reasons, and balancing the sentencing aims of 'restoration' and 'retribution' is contradictory and seemingly impossible. History kind of just lumped us with prisons. They were never intended to be the only, or even the main, solution.

Prisons make even bigger criminals and not much else. If you weren’t a criminal before going into prison, you likely will be once you’re released for two reasons: (i) prison is a highly stressful environment, and; (ii) there is no better place to learn how to commit crimes. Prisoners have a lot of time to talk and learn from each other’s mistakes.

Sorry, o sung wu, you were referring mostly to youth crime rates. Yes, from what I know, youth crime is on the rise.

I'm not sure about the relationship between rising youth crime rates and the need for new prisons, though. Especially since judges and magistrates try to keep young, first-time offenders out of prison for obvious reasons.