Enabling Justice ABI
The Acquired Brain Injury project researched, explored and identified ways to address the over-incarceration of people with an acquired brain injury.
Two per cent of Australians have an acquired brain injury (ABI), but in Victorian prisons, that number is far higher. One study by Corrections Victoria found that 42 per cent of male prisoners and 33 per cent of female prisoners have an ABI.
The Enabling Justice Project explored ways to address the over-incarceration of people with an ABI by putting those who have direct experience of the criminal justice and prisons systems at the centre of the discussion.The participants of the report’s Justice User Group delivered powerful examples of how the criminal justice system has failed to recognise their disability and has failed, time and again, to provide them with respect and support. The report finds that the gross over-representation of people with an acquired brain injury in our prison system will only be reduced if the voices of people with an ABI are taken seriously and their needs are addressed by the criminal justice system.
The project was funded by the Office of the Public Advocate (OPA) and carried out by RMIT’s Centre for Innovative Justice (CIJ) in partnership with Jesuit Social Services.
