The Over-Representation of Indigenous People in Custody in Australia

Abstract

Over 14 per cent of Australia's prison population are of Indigenous origin.Nationally, Aboriginal people are in prison at 13 times the rate of non-Aboriginal people. The degree of over-representation varies around thedifferent jurisdictions with South Australia and Western Australia standingout. The Aboriginal community and others are understandably concernedabout the lack of real progress in reducing the level of Aboriginalimprisonment and are beginning to look outside Australia for support.Projections of the Indigenous prison population over the next decadeor so which are forecast in this Trends and Issues paper are ominous. Theycan be reduced in part by reducing the levels of social and economicdisadvantage experienced by Aboriginal people. There must also berenewed efforts by every jurisdiction in Australia to implementimprovements in the ways the criminal justice system treats Indigenouspeople as recommended by the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deathsin Custody.If we do not make progress in the immediate future, attention onAustralia in the year 2000 may not be focussed on the Olympics alone.