The Importance of Incorporating Lived Experience in Efforts to Reduce Australian Reincarceration Rates

Abstract

It is widely acknowledged that ‘good policy’ should be informed by the people it most directly affects. However, learning from people with lived experiences in the criminal justice sector, such as people who have served time in prison, has received little attention. This article discusses the significance of and challenges related to capturing the voices of people who are currently serving time or have served time in prison. We argue that formalising the perspectives of these individuals into policymaking through co-design processes may be an important method for enhancing program responses to rising incarceration and reincarceration rates. *This is a corrected version of the original article published ‘Online First’ on February 17, 2021. Some text in the literature review was unintentionally missing attribution. The Correction Notice can be found at https://doi.org/10.5204/ijcjsd.1941

Keywords

• incarceration
• policy
• recidivism
• prisons
• lived experience
• co-design
• post-release support