Over the past two weeks there have been suggestions that people who commit crime as a consequence of a drug addiction go into rehabilitiation as opposed to prison.

I have heard and read widespread community support for the idea. That support was on the basis of rehabilitation hopefully reducing a person's likelihood of reoffending, thereby reducing the crime rate and saving some money as rehabilitation is cheaper than prison. I agree with the community's thinking.

However, in my opinion, this type of option should not be limited to people addicted to drugs.

There are so many reasons people offend. I commonly come across crimes being committed because a person is young and immature, is easily influenced, has poor communication skills, drinks too much, suffers from social isolation, is patterned to deal with a situation with anger or violence, is grieving, was the victim of crime in particular sexual offences, has a mental condition, has a mental illness, exhibits a self-destructive nature or is addicted to prescription drugs. And that's not a complete list. Interestingly, those reasons for crime would probably be the reasons for a person possessing and taking drugs - a crime in itself.

In the light of this variety of reasons, I think it would be unfair to spare a person prison because the offence was drug related when a violent offender also could benefit from a rehabilitation program focused on violence.

There is no doubt that this type of rehabilitation could be effective.

The Maroochydore Magistrates Court is fortunate to have a pilot program called QMERIT (Queensland Magistrates Early Referral into Treatment) program. The magistrates can place an eligible person on a bail condition to complete a 16-week drug rehabilitation course prior to sentencing the person for their offences.

I have found the QMERIT program to be effective for two reasons. Firstly, the staff are passionate and committed and do a great job under difficult circumstances.

Secondly, the program is before sentence. This adds an incentive as people have the opportunity to show that they can be rehabilitated or at least that they have taken steps in that direction.

The performance of the person on the program is a matter that the court takes into account when sentencing them and it can thereby reduce the sentence they receive.

One question that arises is whether a post-sentencing rehabilitation facility will be as effective.

I had a client who called his prison sentence an apprenticeship. Will an order to attend drug rehabilitation after sentence become a more specialist apprenticeship?

I believe the answer is to extend pre-sentence programs. My experience and research on this point led me to NSW where an effective model is working.

Senior Sergeant Craig Murray of the NSW Police Service provided me with an insight into the day-to-day operation of the legislation there. Briefly stated, any magistrate or judge in NSW has the power to adjourn a sentence proceeding for up to 12 months and grant bail to a person for the purpose of:
1. Assessing an offender's capacity and prospects for rehabilitation;
2. To allow an offender to demonstrate that rehabilitation has taken place;
3. To allow an offender to participate in an intervention program; or
4. For any purpose the court considers appropriate in the circumstances.

It is a broad power and a review of its application in NSW shows that it is applied in that fashion. Its purpose is to encourage offenders to rehabilitate themselves.

There are many examples of how the provision could be applied. We would simply identify the reason for the commission of a crime, identify a need for rehabilitation coupled with showing good prospects for rehabilitation and adjourn the matter for up to 12 months.

It should be as simple as giving a person the opportunity to show that they can live for one year without re-offending. However, 12 months of no offending coupled with voluntary and positive steps towards rehabilitation would lead to greater prospects of a person not offending again.

The key is that the offender would receive a lighter sentence at the end of the period if all goes well. The lighter sentence would be a reflection of the community recognising and rewarding genuine efforts to rehabilitate.

We need to leave politics and budgetary issues to one side and catch up with NSW as quickly as we can.