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Aboriginal juveniles and the criminal justice system: The case of Victoria
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 February 2016
Abstract
In the light of continuing concern about the high level of involvement of Aboriginal people in the criminal justice system, this article examines the 1993/94 police data for Victoria. The focus is on juvenile ‘alleged offenders processed’. The data shows contact commencing early and a continuing high level of contact with the system, especially for young Aboriginal males. Although there has been a reduction in the over-representation ratio of Aboriginal juveniles in juvenile corrective institutions, the difference in rates at all points in the system compared to non-Aboriginal youth is substantial.
Longer-term consequences including the likelihood of adult incarceration are serious and the need for more research and action is clearly signalled.
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- Research Article
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- Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996
References
i The terms Aboriginal and Aborigine are used to define persons of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent.
ii See House of Representatives Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, 1994, Justice under scrutiny: Report of the inquiry into the implementation by governments of the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, Australian Government Publishing Service Google Scholar; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, 1995, Third Report, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra Google Scholar.
iii Royal Commission Into Aboriginal Deaths In Custody, 1991, Final Report, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra Google ScholarPubMed.
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vi Data for Figure 1 is taken from Australian Institute of Criminology, 1994, Persons in juvenile corrective institutions, Australian Institute of Criminology, Canberra Google Scholar.
vii Australian Institute of Criminology, 1993, Persons in juvenile corrective institutions 1990-1993, Australian Institute of Criminology, Canberra Google Scholar. In 1993, Aboriginal juveniles were incarcerated in Victoria at the rate of 425.1 per 100,000 population, compared to 163 per 100,000 population in 1994. In the same period, the non-Aboriginal rate fell from 13.7 per 100,000 population to 11.4 per 100,000 population.
viii See Aboriginal Affairs Victoria, 1996, Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody: Victorian Government Implementation Report, Department of Health and Community Services, Melbourne Google Scholar.
ix A more detailed analysis of 1993/94 Police statistics pertaining to alleged offenders can be found in Mackay, M. 1996, ‘Law, space and justice: A geography of Aboriginal arrests in Victoria’, in People and place (forthcoming)Google Scholar.
x See Victoria Police crime statistics 1993/94, Victoria Police, Melbourne, 1995, p. 7 Google Scholar.
xi Ibid, p. 8.
xii See Victoria Police, 1994, Demographic profile of Victoria police districts, Victoria Police Statistical Services Division, Melbourne Google Scholar.
xiii Harding, R. W., Broadhurst, R., Ferrante, A. & Loh, N. 1995, Aboriginal contact with the criminal justice system and the impact of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, Hawkins Press, Sydney Google Scholar.
xiv Luke, G. & Cunneen, C. 1995, Aboriginal over-representation and discretionary decisions in the NSW juvenile justice system, Sydney, Juvenile Justice Advisory Council of NSW Google Scholar.
xv As mentioned earlier, the most serious offence is the only offence counted in the database. A person may have been processed with a host of quite different offences from different offence categories at the same time.
xvi It is important here to note that such calculation does not take into account the differing age structure of the populations of different police districts. The fact that the Aboriginal age structure is quite different to the total age structure (see Figure 2) needs also to be considered.
xvii See Mackay M. 1996.
xviii For descriptions and analysis of school participation rates and possible links to juvenile offending rates, see Gardiner, G. 1996, School to street: The Aboriginal youth experience in Victoria, Koorie Research Centre Discussion Paper 2/1996, Monash University Google Scholar.
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xxii See Mackay, M. 1996, Victorian criminal justice system fails ATSI youth, Koorie Research Centre Discussion Paper 1/1996, Monash University Google Scholar.
xxiii Cunneen, C. 1995, p. 13.