Practice Guide for Community-Led and Place-Based Initiatives

Communities have long known the warning signs that a child may not be getting the support they need and be on a path into the criminal justice system.

Research on the ‘social determinants of justice’ by Ruth McCausland and Eileen Baldry used government data recorded about thousands of people incarcerated in NSW to put evidence behind that knowledge. It identifies eight individual and family determinants: having been in out-of-home care, a poor school education, early contact with police, being Indigenous, experiencing unsupported mental health and cognitive disability, alcohol and other drug use, coming from a disadvantaged location and homelessness. The more of these a person experiences, the more likely they are to be incarcerated and reincarcerated. Underneath those determinants lie four structural drivers: poverty, systemic racism and discrimination, the failure to respond to abuse and trauma, and the way the criminal justice system itself operates.

Since the social determinants of justice research was published in 2023, many people have been using it to highlight who is ending up in our criminal justice systems and why. Others are also seeing it as a valuable way to inform how we can address the devastating harms and costs of incarceration, in particular of children and young people.    

This practice guide, developed by PRISM and the UNSW Social Determinants of Justice Research Hub, is for the people doing place-based and community-led work: community groups, Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations, for purpose organisations, government teams and funders.

You don’t need to work in justice to be working on the social determinants of it. The guide helps you see where your work connects and contributes, and what you can do to support all children and young people to thrive in their communities.

It works through five practical questions:

•         Who are you working with and for, and who is missing out?

•         How does your work relate to the social determinants, and who could you act alongside?

•         How can learning and evaluation capture change in systems as well as in individual lives?

•         How can the social determinants of justice framework strengthen local, state and national advocacy?

•         What would funding look like if it backed long-term, relational, holistic work to address criminalisation and        incarceration?

The guide includes case studies, including work led by the Dharriwaa Elders Group in Walgett in the Yuwaya Ngarra-li partnership and Mounty Aboriginal Youth & Community Services in Mount Druitt, along with reflection questions, curated resources and space to write your own notes. It is designed to be used with staff, communities, partners and funders.

The guide does not tell any initiative what to do. It offers prompts and resources to better respond in a coordinated and constructive way, backing up what many communities already understand.

We’d love to hear how you use it. If you’d like to talk about applying the framework in your place, organisation or portfolio, contact PRISM at hello@prismco.au or the SDJ Research Hub at sdj@unsw.edu.au.