Arresting incarceration : pathways out of Indigenous imprisonment

209 Pages·2014·3.164 MB·English

by  Weatherburn, Don

This is a provocative and courageous book by a well-respected criminologist,
offering a critique of the over-representation of Indigenous people in custody
and of the programs and approaches that are attempting to ameliorate the
situation. Communicating a sense of urgency about the seriousness of the
situation, Dr Weatherburn critically re-examines the Royal Commission into
Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, stresses the pressing need for proper evaluations
of the many expensive programs in place, and offers practical suggestions for
action including key evidence-based goals to aim for in reducing Indigenous
incarceration. We should all care about this situation, he argues, because
prison has lost its deterrence, contact with the criminal justice system is itself
criminogenic, and imprisonment contributes to Indigenous disadvantage.
All Australians owe it to Indigenous Australians to reduce these rates of
incarceration. — Dr Maggie Brady, Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy
Research, Australian National University
Government policy-makers should be grateful to Weatherburn — he has
done their work for them in this book, providing the blue-print for all future
goverment policy that genuinely aims to tackle Aboriginal overrepresentation
in prisons. Weatherburn has comprehensively analysed the shortcomings of
previous attempts to resolve this national crisis and proposes real and enduring,
Aboriginal-led solutions in their place. The idea is simple: to achieve Aboriginal
sociopolitical empowerment, we first need to break down the barriers to this
such as low school attendance, unemployment and substance abuse. What are
we waiting for? Everyone should read Weatherburn’s book and get on with it.
— Sheryn Omeri, Barrister (England and Wales), former criminal solicitor at
the Aboriginal Legal Services (NSW/ACT) Ltd
There may be no issue more intractable in contemporary Australian
politics than Indigenous imprisonment. In this outstanding new study Don
Weatherburn confronts the data, appalling as they are, with his characteristic
plain speaking and good sense. No excuses are offered, or simple solutions
applied. Instead we are shown the dimensions of the problem, and led to
consider the fundamentals that need addressing in reducing the levels of
imprisonment. The answers, he suggests, lie less in the criminal justice system
than in the conditions of life that result in two-thirds of Indigenous prisoners
being incarcerated for serious criminal offences. Yet why is so much money
spent on intervention programs that don’t work and are rarely evaluated?
Weatherburn draws on decades of learning from the research literature of
criminology, developmental psychology and crime prevention to show
what ‘closing the gap’ now demands of any government seeking to redress
a national shame. — Mark Finnane, ARC Australian Professorial Fellow,
Griffith University
Dr Weatherburn’s review of the data on the causes and consequences of the
criminalisation and imprisonment of Aborigines makes for sober reading.
He has assembled this data and situated it in a way that makes it accessible
as a reference to the changes yet persistence of high rates of Aboriginal
involvement in crime and punishment over the past half century. The book
brings together data on mental health, substance abuse, school attendance,
employment and other survey data that bears on the Aboriginal imprisonment
experience. In the face of negative outcomes across a range of social indicators
for Aborigines he remains positive about the prospects for a decline in
Aboriginal incarceration if the focus of reform shifts to both broader and
system specific goals. Reforms to bail laws and efforts to reduce recidivism
are key criminal justice system responses. While focusing on very young
mothers, and offenders is advocated but with an emphasis on promoting child
development, reduction in substance abuse and better school attendance. The
need to engage in the real economy through greater workplace participation
rather than rhetoric about empowerment and more ‘sit down’ money is also
crucial. Finally Weatherburn reviews some of the clumsy theorizing that have
been at the centre of the debates about the over-representation of Indigenous
Australians in our criminal justice system since the Royal Commission into
Aboriginal Death in Custody in the early 1990s. — Rod Broadhurst, Professor
of Criminology at the Australian National University

First published in 2014
by Aboriginal Studies Press
© Don Weatherburn 2014
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording or by any information storage
and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the
publisher. The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows a
maximum of one chapter or 10 per cent of this book, whichever is
the greater, to be photocopied by any educational institution for its
education purposes provided that the educational institution (or body
that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to Copyright
Agency Limited (CAL) under the Act.
Aboriginal Studies Press
is the publishing arm of the
Australian Institute of Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander Studies.
GPO Box 553, Canberra, ACT 2601
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.aiatsis.gov.au/asp/about.html
National Library of Australia Cataloguing-In-Publication data:
Author: Weatherburn, Don, author.
Title: Arresting incarceration : pathways out of Indigenous
imprisonment / Don Weatherburn.
ISBN: 9781922059550 (paperback)
9781922059567 (ebook: PDF)
9781922059574 (ebook: epub)
9781922059581 (ebook: Kindle)
Notes: Includes index.
Subjects: Aboriginal Australians — Social conditions. Torres Strait
Islanders — Social conditions. Indigenous people — Australia
— Social conditions. Crime — Australia. Criminal justice,
Administration of — Australia.
Dewey Number: 365.60899915
Printed in Australia by Opus Print Group
If a serious and effective reappraisal of public policy and practice in this
field is to occur, a politically non-partisan and non-ideological approach
is of the utmost importance.
Peter Sutton 2001, p. 127

Contents
List of tables and figures ..............................................................................ix
List of abbreviations ....................................................................................xi
Preface ........................................................................................................xii
Acknowledgments ......................................................................................xvi
Chapter 1: The problem of Indigenous over-representation in prison ..........1
In the beginning ........................................................................................1
Indigenous adult over-representation in custody .......................................2
The consequences of Indigenous over-representation in prison .................7
Chapter 2: A short history of Indigenous imprisonment.............................11
The effects of colonisation and dispossession .........................................11
The lead-up to the Royal Commission ....................................................17
Chapter 3: The Royal Commission and its aftermath ................................22
The advent of the Royal Commission .....................................................22
The Keating Government response .........................................................25
The failure of reform ..............................................................................25
The implementation failure thesis ...........................................................26
The role of external factors .....................................................................29
Design failure ..........................................................................................32
Chapter 4: The theory of systemic bias ......................................................41
The Eggleston–Gale theory ....................................................................44
The Blagg–Bowling theory .....................................................................46
Weaknesses in the Eggleston–Gale theory ..............................................48
Weaknesses in the Blagg–Bowling theory ...............................................52
Chapter 5: Theories of Indigenous offending .............................................55
Cultural theory .......................................................................................57
Conflict theory........................................................................................59
Social disorganisation theory ..................................................................61
Strain (social deprivation) theory ............................................................62
Lifestyle/routine activity theory ..............................................................64
Reviewing the theories ............................................................................65
Testing the theories .................................................................................68
Chapter 6: Key risk factors for Indigenous offending .................................74
Research on the effects of poor parenting, neglect and child abuse ........74
Research on the effects of poor school attendance, performance
and retention ...........................................................................................77
vviiii
Research on the effects of unemployment ...............................................78
Research on the effects of substance abuse .............................................80
Child neglect and abuse in Indigenous Australia ....................................81
Poor school retention and performance in Indigenous Australia .............82
Unemployment in Indigenous Australia ..................................................83
Substance abuse in Indigenous Australia ................................................85
Summary ................................................................................................86
Chapter 7: Responding to Indigenous offending .........................................88
Constraints on policy ..............................................................................88
The distinction between ‘stock’ and ‘flow’ ..............................................90
A profile of Indigenous prisoners ............................................................91
Bail and criminal case processing reform ................................................92
Alternatives to custody ...........................................................................97
Indigenous-specific sentencing options ....................................................99
Community-based rehabilitation ..........................................................101
Reducing the rate of return to prison ....................................................105
The HOPE Program ..............................................................................109
Pharmacotherapies ................................................................................111
Juvenile diversion ..................................................................................113
Juvenile offender rehabilitation .............................................................114
Paying for the change: justice re-investment? ........................................115
Chapter 8: Social and economic reform ....................................................117
Where do we start? ...............................................................................117
Reducing teenage pregnancy .................................................................117
Reducing Indigenous child abuse and neglect .......................................118
The Northern Territory Intervention ....................................................123
School attendance, retention and performance .....................................125
Reducing Indigenous substance abuse ...................................................131
Employment ..........................................................................................140
No quick fix ..........................................................................................148
Chapter 9: Can we close the gap? .............................................................150
Notes ........................................................................................................159
Reference List ...........................................................................................162
Index .........................................................................................................184
vviiiiii
List of tables and figures
Table 1: Breakdown of Keating Government expenditure on response
to the Royal Commission .........................................................................34
Table 2: Sentenced prisoners, mean and median expected time to serve
by Indigenous status (2012) .....................................................................41
Table 3: Per cent bail refused, convicted and imprisoned by Indigenous
status, NSW (2012) .................................................................................42
Table 4: Number and rate per 100,000 population of persons of
interest aged 18 or more proceeded against by the NSW Police
(July 2010–June 2011) .............................................................................43
Table 5: Offender rate by Indigenous status for selected offences,
states and territories (2010–11) ................................................................55
Table 6: Substantiated notification rates of child neglect and abuse by
Indigenous status (2009–10) ....................................................................82
Table 7: School completion and performance by Indigenous
status (2008) ............................................................................................83
Table 8: Employment rates by jurisdiction and Indigenous status,
people aged 15–64 years (2011)...............................................................84
Table 9: Age-standardised alcohol-induced death rates by Indigenous
status and jurisdiction (2005–09) ............................................................85
Table 10: Age-standardised drug-induced death rate by Indigenous
status and jurisdiction (2008–09) ............................................................86
Table 11: Number and percentage of Indigenous prisoners and mean
time on remand by jurisdiction (2012) ....................................................91
Table 12: Summary of Australian drug court and court-based drug
treatment programs (2012) ....................................................................104
Table 13: Indigenous employment for persons aged 25–64 by
educational achievement (2008) ............................................................144
Figure 1: Indigenous and non-Indigenous age-standardised
imprisonment rates (2012). ........................................................................3
Figure 2: Trend in Indigenous and non-Indigenous age-standardised
imprisonment rates (2001–12) ...................................................................4
Figure 3: Growth (%) in age-standardised Indigenous imprisonment
rates by jurisdiction (2001–02) ..................................................................4
iixx