QUT Centre for Justice member, Associate Professor Danielle Watson, has authored a piece in The Interpreter, which is published daily by The Lowy Institute, titled, “Pacific Islands needs stronger corrections systems to address transnational and organised crime.”
In this paper Danielle discusses that while efforts to prevent crime in the Pacific have received a boost, a gap remains in dealing with people who have been convicted.
“The crucial role of corrections agencies as critical partners for an offensive against transnational and organised crime remains largely unincorporated or too often completely absent in regional discussions about combating crime.”
Professor Watson outlines that investment in corrections – in facilitating the rehabilitation of offenders – falls significantly short at both a regional and national level. Furthermore, many corrections officers lack the necessary training and skills to support the rehabilitation of offenders who may have “extensive criminal histories, mental health challenges, or continued engagement in transnational and organised crime activities.”
This lack of adequate funding and training means that in Pacific Island countries inmates can be detained with no options for rehabilitation.
According to Professor Watson, “failure to urgently correct the corrections gap threatens to undermine regional efforts to combat transnational and organised crime.”
Read the full article here.
Professor Watson was also interviewed on Radio national (Asia Pacific) about this research. Listen to the interview here.
Danielle Watson is an Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow in the School of Justice. She is also an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of the South Pacific and an Affiliate of the Resilient and Sustainable Islands Initiative (RESI). Her research focuses on Pacific regional security, border security, policing, police/community relations, policing culturally and linguistically diverse communities and plural regulatory systems in the Caribbean and Pacific. She conducts research on (in)security in Pacific Island countries, capacity building for security service providers, recruitment and training as well as many other areas specific to improving security governance in developing country contexts. Her research interests are multidisciplinary in scope as she also conducts research geared towards the advancement of tertiary teaching and learning.
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