Unemployment
Executive Summary
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Mental health is influenced by employment status. Being employed can improve and bolster mental health, while a lack of access to employment opportunities is associated with poor physical and mental health, social isolation, poverty and an increased engagement with the criminal justice system. The effects of unemployment are compounded by the fact that there are lower employment opportunities for people who have previously been imprisoned.
Structural and systemic factors, along with an individual’s location and access to education, can fundamentally affect their capacity for employment. The disadvantage associated with unemployment can persist through generations.
Greater numbers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are unemployed than non- Indigenous people, with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s unemployment rates influenced by the legacy of colonisation. ‘[L]ong-term unemployment itself reduces people’s employment prospects, as employers worry about large gaps in their resumés and unemployed people lose confidence and skills’. Poverty and long-term unemployment are also causes of homelessness.
Research has reported associations between unemployment and interaction with the criminal justice system. ‘The stigma of a criminal record for an ex-prisoner job seeker is among the most intractable barriers to employment.’
The potential relevance of evidence of of the causes and impacts associated with unemployment in sentencing proceedings may include an assessment of moral culpability; moderating the weight to be given to general deterrence; determining the weight to be given to specific deterrence and protection of the community; and findings of special circumstances due to a possible need for extended supervision and the tailoring of a sentence to enhance prospects of rehabilitation.