Homelessness and Contact with the Criminal Justice System: Insights from Specialist Lawyers and Allied Professionals in Australia
Lawyers and allied professionals who have experience supporting, advising and representing people experiencing homelessness are uniquely placed to identify problems with the operation of the criminal justice system—from policing to courts to punishment—and to conceive reform options. This article re...
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Queensland University of Technology
2021-03-01
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Series: | International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy |
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Online Access: | https://www.crimejusticejournal.com/article/view/1742 |
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doaj-e722e9bc6fcc43b599fdd43ba25b64d72021-06-02T20:47:34ZengQueensland University of TechnologyInternational Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy2202-79982202-80052021-03-0110111112910.5204/ijcjsd.17421379Homelessness and Contact with the Criminal Justice System: Insights from Specialist Lawyers and Allied Professionals in AustraliaLuke McNamara0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8479-6469Julia Quilter1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8348-6741Tamara Walsh2https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4119-3550Thalia Anthony3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0652-0731University of New South WalesUniversity of WollongongThe University of QueenslandUniversity of Technology SydneyLawyers and allied professionals who have experience supporting, advising and representing people experiencing homelessness are uniquely placed to identify problems with the operation of the criminal justice system—from policing to courts to punishment—and to conceive reform options. This article reports the findings of qualitative interviews with lawyers and allied professionals in all Australian states and territories. Participants identified multiple points where decisions about criminal law enforcement fail to take adequate account of the complex factors that underlie ‘offending’ by people experiencing homelessness, producing outcomes that exacerbate disadvantage. They advanced a range of proposals for reform directed at breaking the nexus between homelessness and criminalisation, including re-conception of the role of police, adoption of therapeutic jurisprudence (or ‘solution-focused’) models in criminal courts, and major changes to the use of fines as a criminal punishment.https://www.crimejusticejournal.com/article/view/1742homelessnessrough sleepingcriminalisationpolicingfinescriminal courts |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Luke McNamara Julia Quilter Tamara Walsh Thalia Anthony |
spellingShingle |
Luke McNamara Julia Quilter Tamara Walsh Thalia Anthony Homelessness and Contact with the Criminal Justice System: Insights from Specialist Lawyers and Allied Professionals in Australia International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy homelessness rough sleeping criminalisation policing fines criminal courts |
author_facet |
Luke McNamara Julia Quilter Tamara Walsh Thalia Anthony |
author_sort |
Luke McNamara |
title |
Homelessness and Contact with the Criminal Justice System: Insights from Specialist Lawyers and Allied Professionals in Australia |
title_short |
Homelessness and Contact with the Criminal Justice System: Insights from Specialist Lawyers and Allied Professionals in Australia |
title_full |
Homelessness and Contact with the Criminal Justice System: Insights from Specialist Lawyers and Allied Professionals in Australia |
title_fullStr |
Homelessness and Contact with the Criminal Justice System: Insights from Specialist Lawyers and Allied Professionals in Australia |
title_full_unstemmed |
Homelessness and Contact with the Criminal Justice System: Insights from Specialist Lawyers and Allied Professionals in Australia |
title_sort |
homelessness and contact with the criminal justice system: insights from specialist lawyers and allied professionals in australia |
publisher |
Queensland University of Technology |
series |
International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy |
issn |
2202-7998 2202-8005 |
publishDate |
2021-03-01 |
description |
Lawyers and allied professionals who have experience supporting, advising and representing people experiencing homelessness are uniquely placed to identify problems with the operation of the criminal justice system—from policing to courts to punishment—and to conceive reform options. This article reports the findings of qualitative interviews with lawyers and allied professionals in all Australian states and territories. Participants identified multiple points where decisions about criminal law enforcement fail to take adequate account of the complex factors that underlie ‘offending’ by people experiencing homelessness, producing outcomes that exacerbate disadvantage. They advanced a range of proposals for reform directed at breaking the nexus between homelessness and criminalisation, including re-conception of the role of police, adoption of therapeutic jurisprudence (or ‘solution-focused’) models in criminal courts, and major changes to the use of fines as a criminal punishment. |
topic |
homelessness rough sleeping criminalisation policing fines criminal courts |
url |
https://www.crimejusticejournal.com/article/view/1742 |
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AT lukemcnamara homelessnessandcontactwiththecriminaljusticesysteminsightsfromspecialistlawyersandalliedprofessionalsinaustralia AT juliaquilter homelessnessandcontactwiththecriminaljusticesysteminsightsfromspecialistlawyersandalliedprofessionalsinaustralia AT tamarawalsh homelessnessandcontactwiththecriminaljusticesysteminsightsfromspecialistlawyersandalliedprofessionalsinaustralia AT thaliaanthony homelessnessandcontactwiththecriminaljusticesysteminsightsfromspecialistlawyersandalliedprofessionalsinaustralia |
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