Smart Justice 4 Young People:
Smart Justice 4 Young People: Reintegration Puzzle Conference
On June 20th, Smart Justice 4 Young People and Smart Justice for Women delivered a presentation at the Reintegration Puzzle Conference in Sydney, titled ‘Smart Justice: Blueprints for Systemic Change.’ Eva Lazzaro (Project Officer at the CIJ and member of Smart Justice 4 Young People) spoke alongside Anoushka Jeronimus and Rachel Pliner, discussing the importance of cross-organisational collaboration when advocating for systems change in the criminal legal system, and the challenges and opportunities that go along with establishing and maintaining a coalition.
VCOSS Launch
The Reintegration Puzzle Conference presentation follows on from the online publication of Smart Justice 4 Young People’s action plan, ‘Working Together: Action plan to end the overrepresentation of particular groups of young people in the criminal justice system,’ which was launched to the community sector last month in partnership with the Victorian Council of Social Service (VCOSS). Elena Campbell, as co-convenor of Smart Justice 4 Young People, joined Melissa Hardham (WEstjustice) and Negar Panahi (Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service) on the launch panel. Reflecting on the CIJ’s position in the Smart Justice coalition, Elena spoke about the importance of collaborative, meaningful research as a core tenet of advocacy work.
Collaboration with RMIT Applied PR Course
Over the first half of the year, the CIJ partnered with COBL students and staff in the Applied PR course on a semester-long assessment around engaging young people (aged 18-25) with justice system reform. Eva Lazzaro (Project Officer at the CIJ) presented students with a live brief at the beginning of the semester, which students were invited to respond to using a range of creative research methods and analytical tools, including conducting surveys and focus groups with young people in the community. Feedback from staff and students indicates the strong value of collaboration within different parts of COBL, and the importance of engaging new groups of young people with ideas around systemic change and justice reform.
Public Relations Lecturer Edward Hurcombe and Tutor Tim Jones state:
This research project introduced students to some of the many areas requiring urgent change in the criminal justice system, especially those facing young people. Thanks to the generosity of time, guidance and expertise from Eva, this collaboration with the Centre for Innovative Justice will undoubtedly ignite for our students a life-long engagement with this complex sector. Students are expected to hand in their final reports in the coming weeks.