Australian Human Rights Commission Submission to UN Committee Against Torture, 17 October 2014 emphasis is on the prevention of crime and violence occurring in the first place. 38. To achieve this, the Commission has identified as urgent priorities adopting justice reinvestment programs as well as justice targets and benchmarks. 39. Justice reinvestment has been proposed as a mechanism to address the disproportionate incarceration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as it looks beyond offenders, to the needs of victims and communities.19 Justice reinvestment diverts a portion of the funds for imprisonment to local communities where there is a high concentration of offenders. The money that would have been spent on imprisonment is reinvested into services that address the underlying causes of crime in these communities, such as parenting programs, early education and care, youth mentoring, numeracy and literacy programs, training and employment pathways. 40. The Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee, has recommended that the Australian Government should support justice reinvestment trials.20 In particular, the Senate Committee recommended that any trial actively involve communities in the process, be conducted on the basis of rigorous justice mapping (the identification of place-based communities and of existing services and gaps in services required to reduce crime) over a minimum time frame beyond the electoral cycle and be subject to a robust evaluation process.21 41. At a state level, the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission completed research in 2013 which confirmed the compelling need for a more comprehensive and effective approach to reducing the increasing incarceration of Koori women, noting that 80 per cent of Koori women in Victorian prisons are mothers.22 Accordingly, preventative and diversionary responses must be tailored to the particular needs and circumstances of these women. Work is underway on a Koori Women’s Diversion Project in that jurisdiction. 42. The Commission welcomed the inclusion of the development of diversionary options for Koori women as an action item under the Victorian Aboriginal Justice Agreement 3 (AJA3) and the re-affirmation of this commitment by the Victorian Government in 2012.23 A residential diversion facility remains the highest priority for the Koori Caucus of the Aboriginal Justice Forum, Victoria.24 43. The Commission has for a long period recommended that justice targets be included in the Government’s existing Closing the Gap targets. 44. The Closing the Gap targets set long term and short term goals to improve outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in relation to health, education and other indicators of well-being. They form the basis for inter-governmental cooperation and funding, and are reported on annually to the Australian people through a report to Parliament by the Prime Minister at the beginning of each parliamentary year. 14