Global view on corrections and sentencing

International experts on criminology and criminal justice will join their Australian counterparts in Brisbane on Monday (September 30) for the inaugural Consortium Meeting ofGriffith University’sGlobal Centre for Evidence-based Corrections and Sentencing (GCECS).

GCECS is attached to Griffith’s Key Centre for Ethics, Law, Justice and Governance and the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice and is driven by a commitment to high quality research, knowledge exchange seminars and policy reviews, and global networking in the field of corrections and sentencing.

“We aim to be an apolitical, objective, one-stop resource directory for all the latest material on sentencing and corrections world-wide,” said GCECS Director Professor James Byrne.

“GCECS can offer a global perspective on existing policies and practices and, through invaluable exchanges, demonstrate how programs in sentencing and corrections may be done differently and, more importantly, how they may be done better.”

Among topics to be discussed at Monday’s forum will be community crime prevention; the status of evidence-based research, policy and practice around the world; adult and juvenile sentencing; privatisation of prisons; boot camps for juvenile offenders; and justice reinvestment strategies in high-risk communities in Australia and abroad.

Guest speakers and their topics include:

Professor Alison Liebling (University of Cambridge), Prison Performance in the United Kingdom;

Professor Cassia Spohn (Arizona State University), The Effectiveness of Sentencing in the United States;

Mick Gooda (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner) Justice Reinvestment in Australia;

Professor Spencer De Li (University of Macau), Community Corrections in China.

Professor Paul Mazerolle, Professor Ross Homel, Dr John Rynne, Dr Hennessey Hayes, Dr Christine Bond and Dr Samantha Jeffries will be among those joining Professor Byrne in representing Griffith University.

The Consortium Meeting will be held at The Shore restaurant at Brisbane’s South Bank.