In response to request from Aboriginal community leaders this study examines involvement of Aboriginal youth in criminal justice process in South Australia; presents statistics for types of offence, number of offences, prior offending records, geographical variations for types of offence in metropolitan, rural, remote areas; gives socio-economic profile of offenders; discusses Aboriginal/police relations; compares treatment of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal youth in terms of police discretion in either arresting or reporting offender and relationship between method of apprehension or/and Screening Panel referral; discusses system of diversion - Childrens Aid Panels; examines operation of Childrens Court - nature of pleas, legal representation, reports, magistrates and judges, penalties.

Indigenous Australians are the most incarcerated people on Earth. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders make up 2% of all Australians, yet constitute 27% of the nation¿s prison population. Over-representation in the criminal justice system by indigenous men, women and young people is a persistent and growing problem. What are the reasons for these high imprisonment rates; and what reforms are being proposed to reduce indigenous people¿s contact with the criminal justice system? Are `tough on crime¿ policies flouting death-in-custody recommendations and further entrenching indigenous inequality and disadvantage before the law? After the recent Royal Commission, prompted by shocking abuses at the Don Dale detentioncentre, has anything changed in relation to youth detention? This book examines the latest research on indigenous imprisonment rates, and reviews progress on addressing Aboriginal deaths in custody and youthdetention reform. How can governments reduce over-incarceration and commit to working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communitiesto implement overdue interventions? What will it take to unlock theproblems of indigenous inequality in the criminal justice system?

Indigenous People, Crime and Punishment examines criminal sentencing courts’ changing characterisations of Indigenous peoples’ identity, culture and postcolonial status. Focusing largely on Australian Indigenous peoples, but drawing also on the Canadian experiences, Thalia Anthony critically analyses how the judiciary have interpreted Indigenous difference. Through an analysis of Indigenous sentencing remarks over a fifty year period in a number of jurisdictions, the book demonstrates how judicial discretion is moulded to dominant white assumptions about Indigeneity. More specifically, Indigenous People, Crime and Punishment shows how the increasing demonisation of Indigenous criminality and culture in sentencing has turned earlier ‘gains’ in the legal recognition of Indigenous peoples on their head. The recognition of Indigenous difference is thereby revealed as a pliable concept that is just as likely to remove concessions as it is to grant them. Indigenous People, Crime and Punishment suggests that Indigenous justice requires a two-way recognition process where Indigenous people and legal systems are afforded greater control in sentencing, dispute resolution and Indigenous healing.

This book provides an introduction to the main concepts and issues in juvenile justice in Australia, and provides a consolidated overview of the dynamics of youth crime and the institutions of social control. This book will be of particular interest to criminology and law students.

This title provides comprehensive analyses of current knowledge about the unwarranted disparities in dealings with the criminal justice system faced by some disadvantaged minority groups in all developed countries

Aboriginal people are grossly over-represented before the courts and in our gaols. Despite numerous inquiries, State and Federal, and the considerable funds spent trying to understand this phenomenon, nothing has changed. Indigenous people continue to be apprehended, sentenced, incarcerated and die in gaols. One part of this depressing and seemingly inexorable process is the behaviour of police. Drawing on research from across Australia, Chris Cunneen focuses on how police and Aboriginal people interact in urban and rural environments. He explores police history and police culture, the nature of Aboriginal offending and the prevalence of over-policing, the use of police discretion, the particular circumstances of Aboriginal youth and Aboriginal women, the experience of community policing and the key police responses to Aboriginal issues. He traces the pressures on both sides of the equation brought by new political demands. In exploring these issues, Conflict, Politics and Crime argues that changing the nature of contemporary relations between Aboriginal people and the police is a key to altering Aboriginal over-representation in the criminal justice system, and a step towards the advancement of human rights.

References to Aborigines throughout including a chapter on racist violence against Aborigines; evidence of attacks in social, cultural settings, criminal justice system by racist organisations, police; effects on victims; role of the media; institutional racism; conclusions, findings, recommendations; legislative reform.