2011
| Author | Crofts, Thomas; Mitchell, Tanya |
|---|---|
| Date | Nov, 2011 |
| Source/Publisher | Current Issues in Criminal Justice, 23(2), pp277-285 |
| Link(s) | http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/CICrimJust/2011/31.html |
| Subjects | Criminal justice system |
It has been 20 years since the report of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody which drew attention to the alarmingly disproportionate levels of Indigenous people in custody. The rate of this representation has continued to climb and the causes of the shameful inequalities have been well documented. And yet, governments continue to adopt crime and punishment policies which do not take into enough regard the effect these measures will have on Indigenous offenders or the rate of Indigenous incarceration. One recent example is the application of prohibited behaviour orders which although considered ineffective in the UK (ASBO) context, have been applied in Western Australia. It is likely that the disproportionate targeting, over-criminalisation and net-widening effects of the ABSO will also apply in the Western Australian context, where insufficient attention has been paid to the effect that such orders might have, particularly in the State with the highest rates of Aboriginal imprisonment. This commentary identifies the limitations of a PBO model that will likely exacerbate issues of Indigenous overrepresentation in the criminal justice system (abstract, edited).
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