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Reducing Aboriginal Over‐representation in Prison
Author(s) -
Weatherburn Don,
Fitzgerald Jackie,
Hua Jiuzhao
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
australian journal of public administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.524
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1467-8500
pISSN - 0313-6647
DOI - 10.1046/j.1467-8500.2003.00338.x
Subject(s) - imprisonment , prison , representation (politics) , commission , criminal justice , criminology , political science , economic justice , royal commission , law , sociology , politics
The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody attributed the high rate of Aboriginal deaths in custody to the over‐representation of Aboriginal people in prison. Most analyses of this over‐representation focus on the issue of systemic bias in policing, the law or the operation of the criminal justice system. The present article contends that, while discriminatory treatment of Aboriginal people by police and the court system is an historical fact, the leading current cause of Aboriginal over‐representation in prison is not systemic bias but high rates of Aboriginal involvement in serious crime. We argue that efforts to reduce Aboriginal imprisonment rates through policing or criminal justice system policy have failed and will continue to fail until they succeed in reducing crime in Aboriginal communities. Future efforts to bring down Aboriginal imprisonment rates should focus on this issue.