Vacro conducts and commissions research that informs the design and development of our programs. Our work is based on evidence, informed by best practice, and responds to the needs of the people we serve.

We partner with universities, government departments, community organisations and the wider research community to design sector-leading programs that directly support people in contact with the criminal justice system.

Learn more about the criteria we use to assess whether or not we can assist with a project or study that seeks to recruit people with lived experience of the criminal justice system, and / or their families.

Below is a selection of our work.

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Understanding holistic approaches to employment support for people who have been incarcerated in Victorian men's prisons (2025)

This report presents findings from a collaborative study exploring Vacro’s holistic, relational approach to employment support for people exiting Victorian men’s prisons. Drawing on interviews and focus groups with reintegration staff, it details how Vacro’s practice aligns with its Reintegration Practice Framework and offers a values-driven alternative to mainstream, compliance-based employment services. The study highlights Vacro’s commitment to person-centred support, capability-building, and meaningful pathways to reintegration.

Read the employment report

Empowerment for People with Lived Experience of the Justice System? Peer Leadership and the ‘Spectrum of Public Participation’ (2025)

Systems that consult people with lived experience can be tokenistic and extractive because they tend to consult only when they want and on their terms. This paper lays out our overarching plan to work with people who want to use their lived experience to make change. It starts with providing positive experiences via our programs, which are grounded in our Reintegration Practice Framework, then giving those who are interested the opportunity to build their skills via our Lived Experience Panel, with the possibility that they will then sprout wings and form their own social movements. 

Read the research article

Information and Communications Technology access for people in prison: Strategies to maximise the benefits and minimise the harms of communication with families and program workers (2023)

COVID-19 lockdowns accelerated the take up of digital communication between people in prison and the outside world.  This article aims to identify strategies that might help reintegration services and justice system agencies. This research article was prepared by Dr Aaron Hart. 

Read the research article 

Read the research overview

A Comprehensive Vision for Families in Contact with the Criminal Justice System (2022)

Our vision proposes a holistic network of supports for families, from the point of arrest, through the court and prison systems and back into the community. We've also identified the whole-of-system changes needed to support this vision. 

Read the vision

Toward a Practice Framework for Throughcare Reintegration Programs (2022)

The Reintegration Practice Framework integrates precepts from desistance theory, the capability approach, and throughcare service design, while also aligning with relevant insights from the Good Lives Model. This Framework was prepared by Dr Aaron Hart, Dr Karen Gelb, and Dr Marietta Martinovic.

Read the Framework

Supported Transitions from Prison to Community (2021)

Independent evaluation of our programs helps us strengthen what we do and leads to better outcomes. In 2020, we commissioned independent researchers to evaluate our ReLink and ReConnect programs. The evaluation report, prepared by Dr Karen Gelb, Associate Professor Marg Liddell and Dr Marietta Martinovic is an independent and objective look at ReLink and ReConnect. 

Read the report

Family Video Visits Pilot Program Evaluation, January 2020

Between 2017 and 2019 Vacro ran an innovative pilot program connecting mothers in prison with their children in the community through video calls. An evaluation of the pilot found that video visits offered something new and important in addition to in-person visits. The program augmented Corrections Victoria's Reintegration Pathway by better preparing mothers to return to their parenting role post-release, and by better preparing children for the parent's re-entry into the home.

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Integrating the Indefensible (2017)

Reforms will only achieve so much while they remain disconnected from what happens in communities. We asked the Centre for Innovative Justice to review our current practices in providing community-based support to sexual and serious violent offenders. Their research report contains the Centre’s recommendations for change in light of pending reforms.

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Parenting Status of Community Corrections Clients (2013)

When a parent ends up in the criminal justice system, children become uniquely vulnerable to many forms of harm and marginalisation. This report proposes a framework for collaborative action that reduces its impact. Published shortly after the 2012 report of the Protecting Victoria’s Vulnerable Children Inquiry, the report provides a targeted snapshot of parents in contact with Community Corrections Services in Victoria’s north-west.

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Next Generation on the Outside (2011)

Through no fault of their own, children suffer the consequences of the criminal justice system. This report represents Vacro’s ongoing commitment to research and service delivery that produces better outcomes for families and children of people involved in the criminal justice system. It examines the unintended adverse effects on families and children of offenders at each stage of contact with the ordinary functioning of the criminal justice system, and suggests a coordinated justice and community service response.

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Court-based Family Support (2009)

Many services exist to support defendants and victims in criminal trials. But little specialist support is available for families and children. This service model analyses existing demand and draws on international best practice to present novel specifications for a Magistrates Court family support, information and referral service.

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Children: Unintended Victims of Legal Processes (2007)

Children with parents in prison slip through the cracks of our policy and legislative regimes. This project thoroughly reviewed these gaps; interviewed mothers in prison, carers, police, judges and solicitors; and consulted with key stakeholders and interested parties to imagine a system-wide, interdepartmental set of policies and protocols to capture all children. We have an Executive Summary, Discussion Paper, and Action Paper available for this project.

Read the summary

Doing it Hard: A Study of the Needs of Children & Families of Prisoners in Victoria (2000)

Our experience has led us to the conclusion that the “children, who have a parent in custody, do it hard when compared with children in the general community.” However, little research, focusing directly on issues affecting prisoners’ children, has been undertaken in Victoria. Vacro commissioned research to identify specific areas of need of prisoners’ children. The primary aims of this research were to assess the needs of children of imprisoned parents in Victoria and to investigate the most appropriate ways in which Vacro can respond to these needs.

Read the study