Special Collections

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Browsing Special Collections by Subject "Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People"
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
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    Deaths in custody monitoring
    ( 1997-05) Graycar, Adam
    The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (RCIADIC) stressed, throughout its work, the central need for action to stem the number of deaths in custody and to substantially reduce the gross over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in all forms of custody. It recommended that the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) monitor deaths in custody nationally, on an ongoing basis. It went on to recommend that the results of this monitoring be reported upon annually to the Commonwealth Parliament. Regular reports have been prepared and disseminated by the National Deaths in Custody Monitoring and Research Program at the AIC since the program's inception in 1992.
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    Reconciliation & crime: Aboriginal juvenile justice issues
    ( 1997-05) Graycar, Adam
    There is a disproportionate number of Aboriginal juveniles in the juvenile justice system. There has been an overall increase in the national over-representation level between September 1993 when an Indigenous juvenile was 17 times more likely to be detained in Australia than a non-Indigenous youth and June 1996 when the likelihood of detention had risen to 21 times greater. Rapid demographic change has taken place in the Aboriginal population over the last three decades. It is important that policymakers take these demographic changes be taken into account when looking and planning ahead. Of the 285 Indigenous juveniles detained at 30 June 1996, 176 (60 per cent) were serving sentences and 114 (40 per cent) were on remand. There is evidence that since 1993 the proportion of Indigenous detainees who are remanded, rather than being sentenced, is increasing. The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (RIADIC) highlighted the need for governments and Aboriginal organisations to recognise the widespread problems affecting Aboriginal juveniles. It pointed out the importance of these groups negotiating together to address and devise strategies to reduce the rate at which Aboriginal juveniles are involved in the welfare and criminal justice systems. It is believed that programs need to be designed and implemented which address 'risk factors' associated with the development of offending behaviour.