In a speech to the Australian Institute of Criminology's annual conference in Canberra on Monday, Andrew Leigh will promise an "evidence-based" approach from Labor which sees no contradiction between low incarceration and low crime rates.

Dr Leigh will warn an explosion in incarceration over the past three decades has particularly impacted First Nations Australians and their children, locking many in a cycle of homelessness and crime.

Despite declining violent crime rates, incarceration in Australia has more than doubled over three decades, from 96 prisoners per 100,000 adults in 1985 to 202 today.

Dr Leigh will argue the spike - which he dubs "the second convict age" - meant an extra $2.6 billion spent to jail prisoners annually, equating to roughly $140 per Australian adult.

"There are good ethical reasons for reducing the rate of incarceration in Australia, but there are good fiscal reasons too," he will say.

"You might ask whether crime rates have fallen because of the increase in incarceration. The answer seems to be no ... It should be possible to have an Australia with less crime and less incarceration."

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Dr Leigh believes tougher bail laws, harsher sentencing, and stricter policing had driven the rise in incarceration.

The increase is particularly acute among First Nations Australians, jailed at a higher rate than African-Americans in the United States.

In 1990, 1 per cent of Indigenous Australians were incarcerated, a figure which now stands at 2.3 per cent. In Western Australia, around one in 30 Indigenous adults are currently behind bars.

"That's only a snapshot at a particular point in time. If you look at First Nations men of my generation, a quarter will spend time in jail," Dr Leigh will say.

Around half of prisoners will become homeless upon their release, while around 8 per cent share needles in jail, Dr Leigh will warn.

Incarceration also had a trickle down effect, with their children more likely to face imprisonment later in life.

"[They] will suffer mental anguish. They will do worse at school," Dr Leigh will say.

"They will be more likely to end up on welfare and in crime themselves. Almost one in five prisoners had a parent or carer incarcerated during their childhood."

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