These changes have put a spiralling number of unsentenced remandees on low-level offences – people like Rachel – in jail at a rate that is fuelling concern about human rights, social impacts and the burgeoning cost to taxpayers.
Women and indigenous Victorians have been especially affected. In April, for the first time, more women were in prison waiting for their charges to be heard than were there for actually committing and being sentenced for crimes.
“The current provisions cast the net so wide that they’re catching people that shouldn’t be in custody – specifically, women who pose no threat to safety who are being placed in prison for low-level offending that is a direct result of their poverty and disadvantage,” said Elena Pappas, a spokeswoman for Smart Justice for Women, a coalition of 30 legal organisations.