Community Development Models
These models and simulations have been tagged “Community Development”.
These models and simulations have been tagged “Community Development”.
The town of Bourke is located in far-west northern NSW. Although the population of Bourke is only approximately 3000 people, it has historically had the highest representation of youth crime rates and domestic violence related assaults within Australia (Milliken, 2018).
In 2013, the town implemented a community wide program that saw the diversion of funds from the prison system to a range of community initiatives in the area. This model focuses on the efforts driven towards youth development by the program.
Assumptions
1. It is assumed that the youth population extends to anyone aged between 10-24. According to the ABS 2016 census, there are 368 residents aged between 10-24 in Bourke.
2. The retention rate in 2017 is 66%, which is a 33% increase since before the commencement of the project.
3. The high school attendance rate is 71%.
4. There was a 38% reduction in youth crime since the inception of the project.
5. There were 113 licences obtained through the Birang Driver Program, an 83% increase.
The outcomes of this model demonstrate the positive effects that reinvestment of funds into community development programs can have on Australian youth, particularly Indigenous Australian Youth. Currently Indigenous Australian are grossly overrepresented in Australia incarceration rates with Indigenous youth representing almost 60% of the incarceration population, even though Indigenous youths aged between 10-17, make up on 5% of Australia’s total population (Calma 2016). NSW Health Minister, Brad Hazzard stated that the Maranguka Project demonstrates that to truly address this issue, “the solution has to be empowerment of the people themselves” (Milliken 2018). By having a strong understanding of the successful strategies implemented in Bourke, this can provide a model for other areas in Australia that face similar issues.
References
Milliken, R. (2018). Breakthrough At Bourke
https://insidestory.org.au/breakthrough-at-bourke/
KPMG, (2018). Maranguka Justice Reinvestment Project.
https://www.justreinvest.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Maranguka-Justice-Reinvestment-Project-KPMG-Impact-Assessment-FINAL-REPORT.pdf
MKT563, Assessment 4
Uranchimeg Byambajav
Student No: 11728701
About the Model:
The aim of this model is to show how investments in community programs can positively influence the population in Bourke. It models the cycle between crime and conviction in key groups such as adults and young people. It simulates the impact of community development and alienation over a period of time.
Assumptions:
This model assumes Bourke has a population of 3000 people, with 60% being adults and 40% are young people. It only simulates the relationship between adults and domestic violence as that is the main concerning issue.
Variables:
Police Presence: negative reinforcement. The number of resources put into policing determines whether individuals will commit crimes.
Alienation: the rate at which people involved in community programs will disconnect from their associated groups.
Community Development: the amount of government initiatives established to support community programs encourages individuals to participate.
Conviction: proportion in which individuals get convicted
Patterns:
When the effect of alienation and police presence is limited (0.2-0.3) and conviction rate is maxed out (1), investing in a minimal amount of community development (at least 0.3) will encourage some community cohesion and reduce the possibility of crimes, to a limited extent.
Further increasing deterrence strategies in Bourke through policing will significantly reduce crime and also the number of convictions.
Suggestions
Conviction (1), Community Development (0.3 and 0.7 vice versa), Police (0.7 and 0.3 vice versa), Alienation (0.3)
The impact of significant police presence can suppress crime but does not support youths to be part of the community.
The effect of major community development increases individuals to participate in community but the crime rate suffers, especially in the initial period. In the long term however, crime rates eventually drop.
A combination of these would be ideal.
References:
Alexander, H. (2019, May 29). How NSW town labelled 'most dangerous in world' changed its destiny. Sydney Morning Herald. https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/how-nsw-town-labelled-most-dangerous-in-world-changed-its-destiny-20190527-p51ri6.html
Allam, L. (2018, October 9). Unique community policing sees crime rates plunge in Bourke. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/oct/09/unique-community-policing-sees-rates-plunge-in-bourke
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2016). Census Data for Bourke (A). https://quickstats.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2016/quickstat/LGA11150?opendocument
KPMG Impact Assessment. (2018). Maranguka Justice Reinvestment Project. https://www.justreinvest.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Maranguka-Justice-Reinvestment-Project-KPMG-Impact-Assessment-FINAL-REPORT.pdf
Thompson, G., McGregor, L., & Davies, A. (2016, September 19). Backing Bourke: How a radical new approach is saving young people from a life of crime. ABC News. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-19/four-corners-bourkes-experiment-in-justice-reinvestment/7855114
Model explanation:
This model is to simulate the youth development in the town of Bourke based on 2 factors, community development and the police force within 24 months.
In addition, the model also simulates the effectiveness of rehabilitation at community hub and detention center.
Bourke town refers to the town in the northwest area of New South Wales and it is the administrative center of the Bourke Shire local government area. The town is plagued with a high crime rate number; thus a justice reinvestment project was deployed in the area to reduce the crime rate of the town.
The youth population with a positive lifestyle refers to young people within the town who receive education, do not commit the crime, and help develop the town.
Youth population with negative lifestyle refer to young people who do not receive education and often commit crime or offender.
Assumption:
The model assumes that the youth population is from 15-24 years old.
In addition, the rate such as employment rate, high school/university attendance, and the crime rate is based on information that can be found in Census Data on Australia Bureau of Statistics websites.
Variables:
The police force variable is used to measure the effectiveness of the police force and the funding toward the police force. A higher police force will lead to a high level of imprisonment.
Community development is used to measure the effectiveness of the community toward the development of the youth population in Bourke town. A high level of community development will lead to a high number of young people with a positive lifestyle.
A community hub and detention center effectiveness are used to measure the success rate of a community hub and detention center at rehabilitating the youth population with a negative lifestyle. The success rate of the community hub is at 70%, while the detention center is at 85%.
Outcome:
The model is set so that if the police force is higher than community development then most of the youth population will lead toward a negative lifestyle and vice versa.
However, if the effectiveness of community hub and detention centres are high then the number of imprisonments will remain low.
References:
Australian Bureaus of Statistics, 2016. Retrieved at https://quickstats.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2016/quickstat/SSC10522