Despite Labor Senator, Pat Dodson slamming rising incarceration rates, the percentage of Indigenous people in jail has not risen in the last four years, according to Centre for Independent Studies Research Fellow and Manager of the Indigenous Research Program, Sara Hudson.
“While the percentage of Aboriginal people in custody has nearly doubled since the 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody from 14% in 1991 to 27% today – it was also 27% in 2012,” Ms Hudson says.
“The increase in the proportion of Indigenous offenders in prison since 1991 could also be due to more Indigenous offenders identifying as Indigenous in official police and court records — and not just the result of an increase in the incarceration rate of Indigenous people.
“Between the 2006 and 2011 Census, the number of people identifying as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander in the Census increased by 20.5%, which analysts put down to an ‘increased level of confidence’ in reporting their Aboriginality, “ says Ms Hudson.
“In his speech yesterday, Pat Dodson implied that because Indigenous incarceration rates have increased, more culturally appropriate services and strategies are needed.
“But since the 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody report, a number of ‘culturally appropriate’ approaches to reduce Indigenous incarceration have been tried, such as Circle Sentencing and the Koori and Murri courts.
“Most of these initiatives have failed to make a noticeable difference on crime and recidivism rates. For example, an evaluation of circle sentencing in NSW found there was no difference in recidivism rates of Indigenous offenders who were circle sentenced and a control group who were not.
“These initiatives have not worked because they have not addressed the underlying reasons why people end up in jail.
“There is a misconception that most Indigenous people are in jail because of police and court bias. But data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics on prisoner characteristics shows 56% of Indigenous offenders are in jail for serious crimes such as homicide, assault and sex offences.
“Pat Dodson advocates adopting a justice reinvestment approach to address social factors in Indigenous communities behind high crime rates, but in seeking to reduce Indigenous incarceration rates, it is important to remember who the real victims are — the people assaulted or even killed by their family members,” Ms Hudson says.
“Between 2012 and 2013, Indigenous women were hospitalised for family-violence assault at 34 times the rate of non-Indigenous women.”
Sara Hudson is a Research Fellow and Manager of the Indigenous Research Program at the Centre for Independent Studies.
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