Thirty years of wasted chances

Whatever the hopes were of Indigenous people, their leaders and the justice system when the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody presented its final report on April 15, 1991, progress has been mixed. On the positive side, the death rate of Indigenous prisoners has halved in the interim from 0.26 to 0.13 deaths per 1000. That welcome improvement means the death rate of Indigenous prisoners is lower than the death rate for non-Indigenous inmates, the Australian Institute of Criminology reported in December, as Paige Taylor wrote in Inquirer on Saturday.

In their final report 30 years ago, the five royal commissioners observed: “Too many Aboriginal people are in custody for too long.” At that stage, indigenous people made up one in every seven prisoners, about 14 per cent. Only an ardent pessimist would have predicted that proportion would more than double to 29.6 per cent by 2021. That over-representation is grossly disproportionate, considering that Indigenous people make up just 3.3 per cent of the population.

Redressing the imbalance needs a multi-pronged approach. Justice will never be served by shying away from custodial sentences for serious crimes, especially violence and personal injury, committed by any citizen. Practical, worthwhile steps have been taken to redress the imbalance, but more are needed. Western Australia made an important move in June last year when it replaced jail terms with community service and/or deductions from wages for almost all fine defaulters. Indigenous Australians Minister Ken Wyatt and WA Labor senator Patrick Dodson, who was one of the royal commissioners 30 years ago, are on opposite sides of politics. But they agree on a crucial point: criminals must not get a free pass, but early diversion is vital. “All the evidence is there that it is better to break the cycle of recidivism so these kids don’t end up in adult prison … so they end up in further education or jobs that have some meaning for them,” Mr Wyatt says.

To that end, an Age of Criminal Responsibility Working Group established by the nation’s attorneys-general is on the right track aiming to lift the age of criminal responsibility, from 10 to 12 or 14, and the age for detention, Taylor and Michael McKenna report. Alternatives to jail, diversionary programs and support services will be vital if the initiative is to work. It is a vital area to target. Only 6 per cent of Australians aged up to 17 years are Indigenous, but Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth make up 54 per cent of all juvenile detainees. As Mr Wyatt says, it is important to steer younger ­offenders away from juvenile ­detention, where they often learn skills to commit more crimes. So far, the portents are promising. In December, West Australian Police Commissioner Chris Dawson told The Australian he wanted Aboriginal ­communities to take responsibility for punishing and “shaming” juvenile offenders in a bid to stop them from being dragged through the criminal justice system. In the Kimberley in the state’s far northwest, justice reinvestment program Olabud Doogethu has resulted in a 58 per cent fall in burglaries and a 28 per cent fall in stealing by minors in 11 remote communities.

In addition to tackling juvenile crime and its immediate causes, the broader Closing the Gap process is also a basic foundation in addressing Indigenous jail rates and deaths in custody. Years of abject failures and billions of dollars spent on well-intentioned but flawed programs undoubtedly have contributed to the current malaise.

Improving Indigenous health, education, family welfare, housing and employment will be fundamental to cutting crime and the need for corrections, rehabilitation and criminal justice. Pat Turner, one of the architects of Australia’s new nat­ional agreement on Closing the Gap, believes justice is one of its strengths. The agreement, which Ms Turner signed on behalf of 50 Indigenous organisations nine months ago, along with Scott Morrison and premiers and chief ministers, will allow Indigenous organisations to deliver services they know are right for their communities. From tackling early childhood health and learning to preventing homelessness and substance abuse, well-targeted grassroots Indigenous services are prerequisites to preventing anti-social and criminal conduct across the long term. However challenging, encouraging all Australians, including Indigenous people, to step up and take responsibility for themselves, their families and communities is the surest path to tackling crime, its causes and ensuing problems, such as deaths in custody. There are reasons to hope for better outcomes across the next 30 years.