Overrepresentation of Indigenous Women in Australian Prisons

This essay discusses the overrepresentation of Australian indigenous women in the prison system, focusing on the reasons for the increase in crime rate among them. It also provides statistical data and discusses the issue of recidivism and victimization.

Running head: CRIMINAL LAW
CRIMINAL LAW
Name of Student
Name of University
Author Note

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Introduction
Indigenous people in Australia have been living in the country and its surrounding for
almost 60,000 years, even before colonisation happened. Indigenous people consist of the
Aboriginals and the Torres Strait Islanders. Even though there are a lot of similarities between
the people from the Aboriginal communities and indigenous people of Australia, each of the
communities can be seen as being greatly diversified. In the recent years overrepresentation of
indigenous people in the prison population has been one of the most urgent human right issue
faced by the criminal justice system of Australia. A significant rise is seen in the number of
Aboriginal people imprisoned in the last few years, and the rate is noticeably higher among the
incarceration of the women from indigenous community (Anthony, 2013). In the essay a detailed
discussion has been conducted about the overrepresentation of the Australian indigenous
community in the prison system of Australia. The essay will particularly focus on the Australian
women of indigenous communities who are considered as being in a disadvantaged position.
Further the statistical data focusing on the Aboriginal and indigenous prison population have
also been provided in this essay. The essay also focuses on the rates and the reasons for the
recidivism among indigenous people.
Aboriginals and the criminal justice
The definition of criminal justice can be said as delivering justice to the people who had
committed serious crime and it also can be seen including the rehabilitation of the people who
have offended or to prevent crimes and to provide any kind of support moral or psychological to
the victims of the crime. The criminal justice system helps tremendously in the prevalence of

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control and order in any society and helps in investigating crime and to be protecting the Human
Rights which are basic to any person whether a victim or an accused. In the current years the
overrepresentation of indigenous people in the Australian prisons have been considered as one of
the most urgent human right issue faced by the Australian criminal justice system.
The Aboriginals and the Torres Strait Islander are the inhabitants in Australia and its
surrounding islands (Cunneen, 2014). There had been many structural similarities between the
Aboriginal people and the people from indigenous community, however the communities can be
found as greatly diversified (Short, 2016).
In the eyes of the higher court the characterization of indigenous offenders has been
changed significantly shifted from being objects of sympathy to becoming objects of risk. For
years the community has been seen as to be considered dysfunctional or non functional in a
simultaneous way which has resulted for the offenders to be recognised helpless for assisting
victims or being incapable to be defined as an indigenous. In spite of the fact that for the
development and coordination process of slowing down the imprisonment rate of the women in
indigenous communities there has been a widespread concern among the international parties,
for the effective implementation of the development there has been a very low success rate.
The higher overrepresentation rate in the prison system of Australia among indigenous
women can be seen as the lack of awareness. Presently in any demographic that shows the rate of
incarceration in Australia, the rate is seen to be highest among the Aboriginal women. There has
been a significantly higher increase in the incarceration rate of Aboriginal women compared to
the increase in the incarceration rate of Aboriginal men (Anthony, 2015).

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Statistical data
In the previous years a tremendous rise has been seen for the rate of incarceration among the
people of the Aboriginal and Indigenous communities. Statistical data released in the Human
Rights Social Justice And Native Title Report it shows that it in the previous 15 years almost 57
% rise in the rate of incarceration has been seen to be happening in relation to the people of the
Aboriginal and Indigenous communities. The report further show that in the Juvenile detention
system almost half of the population belongs to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander or the
other indigenous communities. The likeliness of the Torres Strait Islander the Aboriginal
individuals to be in the prison can be seen as reaching an all-time high among all other
indigenous communities. The rate of imprisonment among the juveniles in indigenous
communities is seen as 58% which is more then the retention rate in schools (White, 2015). In a
Data that had been released last year it was seen that although of the total Australian population
the Aboriginal and Torres strait Islander consist of only 2% yet in the Australian prison
population’ they contribute to almost 28% of the total population of the prison (Abs.gov., 2018).
The data further stated that the likeliness of any Aboriginal or any Torres Strait Islander men for
being in present would be 15 times higher than those of any non-indigenous male. In furtherance,
the chance of indigenous women to be in present is 21 times more likely than any non-
indigenous woman. The data also suggests that the women in indigenous communities are mostly
in present for minor of answers therefore they are generally seen as serving shorter sentences
then there non indigenous counterparts (Carlen, 2013).

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Recidivism
Recidivism has been defined as the act of any person to be repeating any kind of behavior that is
considered as offensive. Recidivism has been said as a contributing factor for the higher rate of
the incarceration of indigenous female population (Gutierrez et al., 2013). According to multiple
data published by the Australian Institute of Criminology of all indigenous individuals
imprisoned almost 76% have a chance to be imprisoned previously. Throughout the years every
survey that has been conducted for the rise of the rate of imprisonment among indigenous people
have found that almost 98% of indigenous women have a history of being previously convicted
(AIC, 2019). The New South Wales data further stated that the chance of an indigenous woman
to be previously imprisoned is more likely than the same for an indigenous man.
Victimisation
Victimisation of indigenous women can be seen as a significant contributing factor for
the repeated offences by indigenous women. The Aboriginal women are seen as experiencing
violence and abuse at tremendously higher rates (Baldry and Cunneen, 2014). It has been
suggested in many studies conducted over the years it has been observed that Aboriginal women
are 3 times more likely to die of violence and abuse than their non-Aboriginal counterparts and
this rate is more blatant for indigenous offenders (Balfour, 2013). Their victimisation can often
be referred towards the addiction of drugs, alcohols or because of psychological, sexual or
physical abuse and even because of the family breakdowns. As per the reports presented by the
Torres Strait Islander health survey, it had been observed that most of the Aboriginals had a habit
of smoking daily and they also had higher alcohol consuming risks (Abs, 2019). These people
had also been tested positive for the substance abuse test conducted by an Australian program for

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illicit substances. Although there are no correlations found between addictions and offending,
however it can be seen that the victims of violence and abuse become addicted to substance and
alcohol abuse as a measure of coping up and as a survival strategy (Devries et al., 2014). In a
survey conducted among the female prisoners in the Australian prison systems it was found that
a link between substance abuse and defensive behaviour had been reported by almost 67% of
women and it has been reported by almost 41% that when they were committing the crimes they
had been under the influence of either drugs or alcohol (Abs.gov., 2018). Many of these women
were also found out to be committing crimes for getting the money necessary to be buying
alcohol or drugs for their addictions.
There needs to be serious consideration for addressing the problems that most of these
Aboriginal women face. The patterns of offending of the Aboriginal women are mostly seen as
being linked with substance abuse, trauma and mental illness, hence there needs to be a regular
screening process conducted for the Aboriginal women upon their entrance in the prisons
(McCausland, McEntyre, and Baldry, 2018). The women should further be encouraged to
undergo required treatments on basis of the results found (Hovane, Dalton and Smith, 2014).
Conclusion
Thus in conclusion it can be said that a tremendous rise in the prison population is seen
among the Aboriginal and indigenous people. In this essay a detailed discussion has been
provided about the overrepresentation of the Australian indigenous community in the prison
system with a special focus on the women of these communities. In the essay a detailed analysis
has been conducted for the statistical data present for the rate of incarceration of indigenous
people. The essay also discusses the reason for the increase in the crime rate among Aboriginal

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women. Among the Aboriginal women victimisation has been observed as an important issue for
the rise of crime rate among them. In many of the reports that have been released over the years
it has been observed that most of indigenous women are victims of severe emotional, physical
and psychological violence which leads them towards alcohol and substance abuse and
subsequently towards crime.

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Reference
Abs (2019). Survey Participant Information - National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Health Survey. [online] Abs.gov.au. Available at:
https://www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/d3310114.nsf/home/survey+participant+information+-
+national+Aboriginal+and+torres+strait+Islander+health+survey
Abs.gov. (2018). 4517.0 - Prisoners in Australia, 2018. Retrieved 10 September 2019, from
https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4517.0~2018~Main
%20Features~Aboriginal%20and%20Torres%20Strait%20Islander%20prisoner
%20characteristics%20~13
AIC (2019). Recidivism rates. [online] Australian Institute of Criminology. Available at:
https://aic.gov.au/publications/rpp/rpp107/recidivism-rates
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