Indigenous Australians and crime

Indigenous Australians commit crimes and are imprisoned at a disproportionately high rate in Australia. According to one source, there is "gross overrepresentation of Indigenous offenders at all stages of the criminal justice system".^[1] The 2006 census documented that there are 455,031 Indigenous people, who are either Australian Aborigines or Torres Strait Islanders, in Australia, accounting for 2.3 percent of the population.

Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show that Indigenous Australians account for around 25% of Australia's prison population.^[2] The Australian government and local Indigenous groups have responded to these trends with numerous programs and measures.

Issues

Prisoners

Australian Bureau of Statistics figures showed that Indigenous people accounted for 25 percent of Australia's prison population in 2009.^[3] The age-standardised imprisonment rate for Indigenous people was 1,891 people per 100,000 of adult population, while for non-Indigenous people it was 136, which meant that the imprisonment rate for Indigenous people was 14 times higher than that of non-Indigenous people. The imprisonment rate for Indigenous people had increased from 1,248 per 100,000 of adult population in 2000, while it remained stable for non-Indigenous people.^[4]

Indigenous men accounted for 92 percent of all Indigenous prisoners, while for non-Indigenous people the rate was 93 percent.^[5] Seventy-four percent of Indigenous prisoners had been imprisoned previously, while the rate for non-Indigenous prisoners was fifty percent.^[6] Chris Graham of the National Indigenous Times calculated in 2008 that the imprisonment rate of Indigenous Australians is five times higher than that of black men in South Africa at the end of apartheid.^[7]

A leading researcher in prison reform, Gerry Georgatos, revealed on a national television program that in Western Australia 1 in 13 of all Aboriginal adult males is in prison. He stated that this is the highest jailing rate in the world from "a racialised lens".^[8]

Georgatos also stated that at least one in ten and up to one in seven Aboriginal people living today have been imprisoned. He describes it as "racialised imprisonment".^[9]

Violence

Violence in Indigenous communities is disproportionately high. The main source of information on homicides is the National Homicide Monitoring Program (NHMP), which was established in 1990 at the Australian Institute of Criminology. Data showed that from 1 July 1989 to 30 June 2000, 15.7 percent of homicide offenders and 15.1 percent of homicide victims were Indigenous, despite the fact that they made up only 2 percent of the population in 2000. The NHMP data is gathered from police records, which may not always identify race accurately; in some cases the assessment of a person's race is left to the police themselves. Because of this, it is likely that Indigenous people are involved in more homicides than the statistics suggest.^[10]

Age-standardised figures in 2002 showed that 20 percent of Indigenous people were the victims of physical or threatened violence in the previous 12 months, while the rate for non-Indigenous people was 9 percent.^[11]

Family violence and child abuse

The incidence of child abuse in Indigenous communities, including sexual abuse and neglect, is high in comparison with non-Indigenous communities. However the data is limited, with most coming from child protection reports.^[12] The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare gathered data for 2008–2009 on children aged 0–16 who were the subject of a confirmed child abuse report. It showed that Indigenous children accounted for 25 percent of the reports, despite making up only 4.6 percent of all Australian children; there were 37.7 reports per 1,000 of Indigenous children and 5 reports per 1,000 of non-Indigenous children, that is, Indigenous children were 7.5 times more likely to be the subject of a child abuse report.^[13]

The data showed that child sexual abuse was the least common form of abuse of Indigenous children, in contrast to media portrayals. Incidents of child abuse in Indigenous communities are under-reported. There are several explanations for this, including fear of the authorities; denial; fears that the child may be taken away; and social pressure.^[14] One explanation of the high number of incidents is that child abuse is more frequent among the poor, and the Indigenous community is significantly poorer than the non-Indigenous community.^[15]

The issue of child abuse in Indigenous communities was looked at by the Northern Territory government, who in 2007 produced a report referred to as "Little Children Are Sacred".

Family violence and sexual assault are at "crisis levels" in the Indigenous community, according to Monique Keel of the Australian Institute of Family Studies.^[16] In 2002 the Western Australia government looked into the issue and conducted an inquiry, known as the Gordon inquiry after its lead investigator, Sue Gordon. The report, "Inquiry into Response by Government Agencies to Complaints of Family Violence and Child Abuse in Aboriginal Communities", said that "[t]he statistics paint a frightening picture of what could only be termed an 'epidemic' of family violence and child abuse in Aboriginal communities."^[17]

Illicit drug use

Data from 2004–2007 showed that illicit drug use by Indigenous people is twice as high as that of the general population. The data showed that 28 percent of Indigenous people aged 15 and above in non-remote areas had used illicit drugs in the previous 12 months, while the rate for non-Indigenous people aged 14 and above in all areas was 13 percent. The illicit drugs most used by Indigenous people are cannabis, amphetamines, analgesics, and ecstasy. Since the 1980s cannabis use by Indigenous people has increased substantially. Studies suggest that Indigenous people prefer amphetamines over heroin because it is cheaper and lasts longer.^[18]

There is strong evidence of a link between substance abuse and violent behaviour in Indigenous communities.^[19]

Deaths in custody

The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (RCIADIC) was set up in 1987 to investigate concerns over the number of Aboriginal deaths in custody.^[20] The 1991 report of the same name found that the death rate in custody was in fact similar for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people—a discovery that surprised many—and that the high number of Indigenous deaths in custody was explained by the disproportionate number of Indigenous people in custody relative to non-Indigenous people—a factor of 29 according to a 1988 report by the commission.^[21] The issue resurfaced in 2004 when an Indigenous man, Mulrunji Doomadgee, died in custody in Palm Island, Queensland, an incident that caused riots on the island.^[22] The police officer who had custody of Doomadgee was charged with manslaughter, and was found not guilty in June 2007.^[23]

Aboriginal deaths in custody have in some instances been attributed to "a culture of racism, cronyism and cover-up" within the police force.^[24]

Refusal of bail

NSW studies in 1976 and 2004 found that Aboriginals were more likely to be refused bail than the general population.^[25][26] This is despite provisions in the Bail Amendment (Repeat Offenders) Act 2002 aiming to "increase access to bail for Aboriginal persons and Torres Strait Islanders".^[26]

Responses

Indigenous figure Noel Pearson has criticised government attempts at tackling the crime rate among Indigenous communities.^[27]

Circle sentencing has been adopted as an alternative option for sentencing adult Aboriginal offenders.^[28] Informed by the restorative justice approach, circle sentencing seeks to integrate Aboriginal customary tradition into the legal process.

Reports on the rates of Indigenous crime have also focused on reducing risk by targeting the socio-economic factors that may contribute to such trends.^[29] Such factors include education, housing and the lack of employment opportunities for Indigenous Australians.

See also

• Law enforcement in Australia
• Law of Australia
• National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey
• Race and crime

References

Sources

• Johnston, Elliot; Hinton, Martin; Rigney, Daryle. (eds.). Indigenous Australians and the Law, Routledge-Cavendish, 1997, 2008 (second edition). ISBN 978-1-876905-39-2.
• Gordon, Sue; Hallahan, Kay; Henry, Darrell. "Inquiry into Response by Government Agencies to Complaints of Family Violence and Child Abuse in Aboriginal Communities", Department of Premier and Cabinet, 2002.
• Keel, Monique.,"Family violence and sexual assault in Indigenous communities: "Walking the talk"", Australian Institute of Family Studies, September 2004, accessed 14 November 2010. Archived, Australian Institute of Family Studies, September 2004, accessed 14 November 2010. Archived by WebCite on 14 November 2010. See html version here, archived, archived 14 November 2010.
• Edney, Ruchard; Bagaric, Mirko. Australian Sentencing: Principles and Practice, Cambridge University Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-521-68929-8.
• ""Little Children are Sacred"" (PDF).  (6.35 MB), Northern Territory Government, 2007, accessed 12 November 2010. See website, archived, archived by WebCite on 12 November 2010.
• "Law and Justice Fact Sheet", ReconciliACTION, 15 October 2007, accessed 10 November 2010. Archived, ReconciliACTION, 15 October 2007, accessed 10 November 2010. Archived by WebCite on 11 November 2010.
• Berlyn, Claire; Bromfield, Leah. ""Child protection and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children"".  (552 KB), Australian Institute of Family Studies, June 2010, accessed 11 November 2010. Archived, Australian Institute of Family Studies, June 2010, accessed 11 November 2010. Archived by WebCite on 11 November 2010. For a html version, see here, archived, archived 11 November 2010.

Further reading

External links

• 4517.0 – Prisoners in Australia, 2009 – Indigenous prisoner characteristics, Australian Bureau of Statistics
• Indigenous Violence Register
• "Illicit drug use", Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet
• "Child abuse and neglect in Indigenous communities bibliography", Australian Institute of Family Studies
• Topics @ a Glance – Indigenous, Australian Bureau of Statistics
• Publications and statistics by subject (A to C) – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Australians, NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research