Aboriginal leaders must stop telling lies about Indigenous deaths in custody

Anthony Dillon says it’s time for Indigenous leaders to quit lying about deaths in custody and start acknowledging the statistically proven fact that Aboriginals are not more likely to die behind bars or in police care than non-Aboriginal people.

In late May, an Aboriginal man in Alice Springs died while being apprehended by police.

Given police involvement, by definition, such a death is  known as a “death in ­custody”.

Since the death, protesters have been very clear and loud in their call for justice. However, they have been less clear in what they mean by justice.

What justice are they seeking? What would the justice they seek look like? Why are they seeking justice?

Well, not wanting to state the obvious, one would assume they want ­justice because there is some perceived injustice.

If so, then they need to tell us in clear detail what the injustice is.

Did the police intend for him to die? Did they act inappropriately towards him?

I have not read anywhere why ­protesters believe there has been ­injustice.

What I have heard instead is the same rhetoric and lies that get trotted out each time there is an Aboriginal death in custody.

Namely, that such deaths are a ­continuation of the great injustice that Aboriginal people in custody are at a higher risk of dying than non-­Aboriginal people in custody. But this claim of a higher risk is simply not true, as many readers of these pages already know.

Anyone familiar with the publicly available statistics from reputable sources, such as the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC), knows this.

As has been known from the early days of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, Aboriginal people in custody are not more likely to die than non-Aboriginal ­people in custody.

Sydney protesters mourn the death of Kumanjayi White, who died after being restrained by police officers at a Coles supermarket in Alice Springs on May 27. Pucture: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

Former head of the criminology ­research group of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, David Biles, wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald in 2016: “In fact, in the early days of the royal commission, when I and a small team of ­researchers were able to prove un­equivocally that Aboriginal people were slightly less likely to die in prison or police custody than non-Aboriginal people, we were met with derision and disbelief.

“We were even accused of disloyalty to the royal commission.”

Certainly, Aboriginal people are more likely to come into contact with the justice system, and this is a major problem.

However, once in contact, they are not at a higher risk of death than non-Aboriginal people.

If these findings are confusing, consider that men make up the vast majority of deaths in custody compared with females.

This simply reflects the fact that ­although men make up approximately 50 per cent of the population, they are far more likely to be in custody than females.

Most people know this, which is why we never hear protesters shouting “male lives matter”.

So why do many continue to believe that Aboriginal people in custody are at a higher risk of dying than non-­Aboriginal people?

Extremely biased reporting, for starters. Looking at data held by the AIC, 24 Aboriginal people died in custody in the last financial year. Now the activists are going to tell us “these people were sons, brothers, fathers, they weren’t just statistics”.

In the same period, 80 non-Aboriginal people died in custody. These 80 people were also sons, brothers, ­fathers, etc.

In the past year, as in previous years, I have read many stories about those Aboriginal people who died in custody. But in comparison, I have read about only a small number of the non-Aboriginal deaths in custody.

Although more than 500 Aboriginal people have died in custody since 1991, in that same period over 2300 non-Aboriginal people have also died, disproving the theory that Indigenous people die in custody at a higher rate. Picture: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

Perhaps the most common statistic used to promote the lie that Aboriginal people in custody are at greater risk of death in custody than non-­Aboriginal people, is that more than 500 people have died in custody since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.

This is true, yet rarely do activists at the Guardian and the ABC report that more than 2300 non-Aboriginal people have died in custody in the same period. This is another statistic easily obtainable from the AIC.

The biased reporting also includes  sensational or emotive lang­uage from leaders.

Consider that the ABC recently reported that Northern Territory MP Marion Scrymgour has “slammed the federal government and previous ­governments for ‘taking their eye off the ball’ regarding Aboriginal deaths in custody”.

How so, Ms Scrymgour?

In the same article, she is reported as saying: “Aboriginal people are being completely ostracised and victimised, and people are dying” and “the federal government I think needs to show the leadership”.

Actually, Ms Scrymgour, I believe it’s Aboriginal leaders who need to show leadership.

They could start where it urgently matters: by telling the truth about ­Aboriginal deaths in custody.

Anthony Dillon is a researcher, academic and commentator on Indigenous affairs 

Originally published as Aboriginal leaders must stop telling lies about Indigenous deaths in custody