'Too much money is spent on jails and policing': what Aboriginal communities told us about funding justice reinvestment to keep people out of prison

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Justice reinvestment emerged in the United States more than 20 years ago as a way to reduce mass incarceration and its vast costs by addressing the social drivers of imprisonment.

Through justice reinvestment, communities identify and develop responses to issues that feed high rates of re-incarceration locally, resourced through a “reinvestment” of funds drawn from prison budgets. The focus is often on better access for ex-prisoners to essentials such as accommodation and reducing inequity at a community level in health, education and other outcomes.