Background

 

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 

A System Dynamics Simulation Model to project prison population over the next 10 years.

Hillary Nkoma - W1622118

University of Westminster

Assignment Four - Big Data & Marketing Analytics MKT563

Student No : 94040609

Trish Anderson

The Maranguka Justice Reinvestment (JR) project is a community led program that demonstrates how the redirection of government funding into community programs can address underlying issues which lead to crime in the community (KPMG, 2018). This interactive model shows how the redirection of funding from the Justice System into Community Programs improves the rate of year 12 graduates, reduces the number of incidents of domestic violence whilst reducing the number of days spent in custody. This model also shows how investment in Community Programs leads to positive economic impacts for the Community as well as cost savings for the Justice System over time.

 

One of the key findings of the Maranguka JP project found that redirecting funding from the Justice system into the Community has multiple benefits. This model begins with NSW government funding on a scale from 0 to 1000 which can be adjusted using the sliders based on available funding, sliding the scale to the right increases the available funding. The % Community Funding and % Justice System Funding variables can then be adjusted in the sliders to determine how much of the funding goes to the community as a percentage and how much of the available funding gets allocated to the justice system.  

 

Investment into Community Programs is made available by the investments into the Bourke community.  Community Leaders in the Bourke Community develop programs and each program has shown to have a positive impact on the number of students graduating year 12 in the community, the number of domestic violence incidents and the number of days spent in custody.

 

Variables

The current number of Year 12 graduates, the current number of domestic violence incidents and the current number of days in Custody are input into the sliders on the hand panel and the model simulation will show how these figures are impacted through investment in the community over time. These variables also contribute to the growth of Youth Development, Family Strength and Adult Empowerment in the community. These factors result in reinvestment opportunities, which have positive economic impacts on the community. Savings are also passed back to the justice system as underlying issues in the community are addressed over time.

 

The slider scale on the right hand panel uses six adjustable variables to model how the rate of investment in the community can impact the rate of positive impacts in the community and the rate of reinvestment opportunities that can be achieved. Running the simulation will show the larger the % of Community Funding, the faster the results can be seen over time and the greater the economic impact and justice system savings will be. The smaller the % Community Funding will show how impacts are still positive but occur over a longer period of time.

 

% Community Funding and % Justice System are a percentage of funding whereas NSW Government Funding is represented in dollars ($). NSW Government Funding is on a scale from 0 to 1000 but the assumed scale is $000’s, where 1,000 equals $1,000,000.

 

 

Parameter Settings

With community funding, the amount of Year 12 graduates increases by 31% (KPMG, 2018)

With community funding, the number of Domestic Violence incidents decreases by 23% (KPMG, 2018) (KPMG, 2018)

With community funding, the number of days spent in custody decreases by 42% KPMG, 2018)

Reinvestment opportunities contribute to 1/3 of economic impacts back the community where 2/3 of the reinvestment opportunities contribute to savings within the Justice System KPMG, 2018).

 

Assumptions

The rate of impact on year 12 graduating students, Domestic Violence Incidents and Days spent in custody changes at the same rate of % Community Funding available to the community.

 

References

 

Backing Bourke: How a radical new approach is saving young people from a life of crime. (Thompson, G). abc.net.au.

KPMG. (2018). Maranguka Justice Reinvestment Project Impact Assessment. Retrieved from https://www.justreinvest.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Maranguka-Justice-Reinvestment-Project-KPMG-Impact-Assessment-FINAL-REPORT.pdf