A much-anticipated bail review has been fast-tracked in Victoria as state attorney-general is called on to tackle the crime crisis.
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan tasked Attorney-General Sonya Kilkenny and Police Minister Anthony Carbines with reviewing criminal justice settings, including bail, in early February.
She set the pair a three-month deadline but on Thursday the attorney-general foreshadowed the review’s release was imminent.
“It will be very, very, very soon,” she told reporters at state parliament.
Opposition Leader Brad Battin suggested fast-tracking the review would not reassure the community as the government was not facing up to the courts being bound by its previous changes to bail laws.
One person who is all for a review on bail and tackling the crime crisis is Flora Socratous, who was victim to a home invasion two months ago.
“Enough is enough. The laws need to be changed and there needs to be harsher punishment and no bail for reoffenders,” she told Neos Kosmos.
“They commit the crime – they should do the time. Maybe then they’ll think twice about reoffending when they come back into out into the community.”
But if it was up to her, they wouldn’t come back out into the community straight away.
“There should be a set plan for them to gradually get back into the community.”
“Bail is one aspect of it – great. Deny them bail, like in my situation, bail was denied, but he’s going to be released back into the community soon.
“Then what? What is their blueprint? What happens to these people next to prevent them from reoffending?”
Socratous said she’s still suffering from the home invasion that she filmed on her phone.
She now has regular panic attacks and suffers from anxiety, and has also been diagnosed with PTSD.
“Ever since the incident, I still live in fear,” said the Windsor resident who also has memory blurs now.
“I’m always on edge. I’ll be out or whatever and I freak out. I’m exhausted mentally and physically from the whole thing.
“He’s got another two months to go but I’ve got a lifetime of sentence.
“I have to live with this. I don’t know how long it will take to be back to who I was. I just don’t think that the system it’s helping us here.”
Crime statistics agency figures show residential aggravated burglaries – home invasions where the occupants are present or the offender is armed – have doubled in Victoria over the past decade.
In the 12 months to September 2015, there were 2576 private dwelling home invasions compared to 6390 in the year to September 2024.
Victoria Police confirmed 688 offenders were arrested 1642 times last year in connection to aggravated burglaries where at least one car was stolen.
Some 65.4 per cent of the arrests were of children aged between 10 and 17.
Last year Neos Kosmos reported on the Youth Justice Bill and how the bail test will be strengthened, and the establishment of the Council on Bail, Rehabilitation and Accountability (COBRA) to explore what is driving the actions of reoffenders and getting down to the roots of the problem.
Socratous believes that is where the problem first needs to be addressed and said they need to be tried as adults.
She pointed to the 29-year-old who broke into her home and how they came from a troubled childhood.
“You can’t blame it on your childhood, but okay, if that’s got something to do with it, maybe the necessary departments should step in,” she said.
“There is so much more work that needs to be done to fix the entire system.”
With AAP
