Overrepresentation of Aboriginals in the Criminal Justice System

Running Head: Overrepresentation of aboriginals in criminal justice system
OVERREPRESENTATION OF ABORIGINALS IN THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
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Overrepresentation of aboriginals in the criminal justice system1
There are major proportion of indigenous people who reside in remote and rural zones of
Australia in comparison to other linguistically and culturally distinct groups. The research on
justice and rural offence demand specific focus to contribute to the incidence and nature of
criminal offences among the community concentrate of indigenous people along with that the
connection between the non-indigenous and indigenous judicial institution (Shepherd and Ilalio
2016). The factor that is considered is victimization, nature of criminal offences in remote and
rural indigenous communities and the response of criminal judicial structure to justice issue and
indigenous crime. It also takes into regard the strengthening and developing of responses to
indigenous communities to crime (Douglas and Fitzgerald 2018). It can be briefly considered in
the process of the criminal justice system in Australia that the remote and rural nature of
indigenous populations influences the spatial and social dynamics of crime. Furthermore, the
response by a government authority has differed which is dependent upon the nature of non-
indigenous and indigenous populations (Trotter, Baidawi and Evans 2015). The remote
indigenous populations in many aspects have an incline to intervention which is less consistent
by the welfare and judicial agencies however the community of mixed rural where the
indigenous community is significant minority incline to have stronger order and law which is
aimed to regulate indigenous populations.
The agreement of Aboriginal Justice in Victoria refers to the issue of discrimination and
racism as contributive factors to indigenous community overrepresentation in the structure of
criminal justice. It is recognized by the agreement that the indigenous community are represented
at every margin of the system of criminal justice at disproportionate and unacceptable rates. The

Overrepresentation of aboriginals in the criminal justice system2
factors responsible for the overrepresentation of indigenous community are as follows. Firstly
there is a cluster of issues underlines such as great economic and social difficulty, alienation and
dispossession from culture and traditional land. Secondly vulnerability to offence connected to
extreme victimization rate, family violence, social disadvantage, alcohol and drug use. Thirdly
embedded and widespread racism which includes stereotyping and racial vilification that
functioned as a method for the exclusion of aboriginal communities from absolute involvement
in the Victorian community. Institutional discrimination is the procedure under which the
individuals who belong to ethnic subgroups are discriminated systematically by the series of
private and public authorities (Lloyd, et al. 2015. Although the concept of racism is embedded in
values, beliefs and attitudes, racism can take place regardless of individuals’ intent who perform
the institutional activities. Thus there are discriminatory practices in policing without being
recognized or acknowledged and in the appearance of official guidelines concern with the
eradication of discriminatory practices in the criminal justice system. The death of aboriginal in
police custody has raised concern by the Royal Commission (Brookman and Wiener 2017). The
discoveries made by the commission have based on the supposition that aboriginal communities
are marginalised and disadvantaged in the procedures of criminal justice structure. The
indigenous community in the country of Australia are mostly sentenced people in society they
are exceptionally marginalized to the system of criminal justice that is basically Eurocentric in
practice and philosophy. The continuing overrepresentation of indigenous people in the country
of Australia cannot be assessed solely in the aspect of biases of individuals in the criminal justice
system or greater offending rate by the indigenous community through accompanying role is
played by them (White 2015). There are replication patterns of multiple layered of extreme
marginalisation and disadvantage which is witnessed by the aboriginal community. The