Introduction

The current essay can be seen as discussing about the problem of overrepresentation of indigenous and aboriginals and Torres Strait Islander people. The aboriginals and the indigenous people are the native people of Australia living in the country for almost sixty thousand year. The indigenous community not just only consists of the aboriginals or the Torres Strait islanders but also many other communities. Although these communities can be seen as similar, yet are greatly diversified in their practices and cultures. With great diversity the communities also suffer from many problems. One of the major challenges that the Australian Government has to face is the increasing rate of incarceration of the indigenous people in the prison system. This rate is particularly higher among the women of these communities, who are often victimized and led to substance and alcohol abuse. A statistical data has been provided in this essay that focuses particularly on the prison population rate among indigenous and aboriginal communities. In this essay a brief discussion has also been conducted which focuses on the rate and the reasons present for recidivism of crime among the women of indigenous communities.

Indigenous People and the Criminal Justice System

Criminal justice system in Australia is the system which delivers justice for the commitment of serious crimes and violence. Criminal justice also ensures the prevention of crimes, rehabilitation of  offenders and moral support for the crime victims. It also helps in prevailing order and control in the society and helps in the investigation of crime and protection of basic Human Rights that both the accused and the victims are eligible of. One of the most urgent human right issues that the criminal justice system in Australia is facing can be saved as the overrepresentation of the incarceration of indigenous people.

The people of the aboriginal and indigenous communities have been inhabiting in Australia and the islands surrounding it for long before the British Colonisation. These communities have great diversity in their cultures in spite of being structurally similar to each other. For many years it has been considered that the indigenous communities are other non functional or dysfunctional in such a way that has resulted in the offenders being regarded as helpless as victims or there not capable of being defined as indigenous (Short, 2016). The characterization of indigenous offenders have shifted in a significant way in the eyes of law from being an object of sympathy towards becoming an object of risk and terror.  Despite of multiple efforts put for the development and coordination for slowing down the crime rate among indigenous and aboriginal communities, there is a widespread of concern shown by the international communities for the very low success rate seen about the effectiveness of implementing the development processes (Anthony, 2015).

            As per any demography presented which shows the rate of incarceration among the indigenous people it has been observed that rate of imprisonment is significantly higher among indigenous women than that of indigenous men. A reason for the higher incarceration rate among the indigenous women can be considered as their lack of awareness. Recidivism can be considered as another factor for such high rates of incarceration.

Recidivism

Recidivism in criminal justice has been described as the repetitive conduct of any individual that would be considered offensive by any reasonable person. It is one of the contributing factors for the high incarceration rate among the female population of the indigenous and aboriginal communities. Over the years various data have been published by the Australian Institute of Criminology that have been concerned with the recidivism rates among the indigenous communities. It has been observed in those data that of all indigenous people who have been imprisoned over the past few years on an average almost 76% had previous record of being imprisoned (AIC, 2019). Multiple surveys have also been conducted throughout the years among the women of indigenous communities who have been imprisoned where it had been observed that almost 98% of all the indigenous women who have been imprisoned have previous conviction records. As per the New South Wales data the rate of recidivism rate among the aboriginal women is more likely to be higher than the same for the aboriginal men.

Statistics

The rate of incarceration in the aboriginal and indigenous communities has been observed as being in a significant rise in the past few years. As per statistical data published in 2016 The Human Rights Social Justice and Native Title Report it was observed that in the last 15 years the rate of incarceration in relation to the individuals of aboriginal and indigenous communities have risen to an average of almost 57%. In that report it had further been observed that almost half of the juvenile population in the Australian prison system consists of the juveniles from the indigenous and Aboriginal communities. The imprisonment rate for the Juvenile offenders from indigenous communities is almost 58% which is observed as more than the retention rate of indigenous youth in school. In a data published by the Australian government in the previous year observation was made that although only 2% of the total Australian population consists of aboriginal and Torres Strait islander yet they contribute to almost 28% of the total Australian prison population. The data further observed  the likeliness of any male of Aboriginal or any Torres Strait Islander community is considered as 15 times higher than those of any non-indigenous male. (Abs.gov., 2018). The rate of imprisonment among indigenous women was observed as 21 times more likely  to be higher than that of the non-indigenous women.

Victimization of Aboriginal Women

           Victimisation of indigenous women has been observed by many as a significant factor which contributes toward the rise in the rate of repeated offences by indigenous women. The Aboriginal women have been experiencing violence and abuse at tremendously higher rates (Baldry and Cunneen, 2014). It has been suggested in many of the studies  that were conducted over the last few years researchers have observed that Aboriginal women have a 3 times more likely chance to be dying of abuse and violence than the non-Aboriginal women and this rate is more obvious among the indigenous offenders (Balfour, 2013). The reason for the high rate of victimisation can be referred towards their addiction for alcohol, drugs, or because of physical, sexual or psychological abuse and even for the  breakdowns in their families. According to the reports of the Torres Strait Islander health survey, it has been noticed that most of the Aboriginals are habituated of daily smoking and they are also observed for having higher risks of alcohol consuming (Abs, 2019). These individuals were also tested positive for a substance abuse test that had been conducted by an Australian program for illicit substances. Although no correlations have yet been found between offending and addictions, yet it has been observed that the victims of abuse and violence are more likely to get addicted to alcohol and substance abuse as a measure for coping up with all the violence and abuse and as a survival strategy (Devries et al., 2014). In a survey conducted among the female prisoners in the prison systems of Australia it was observed that a link between substance abuse and defensive behaviour was reported by almost 67% of the women and  almost 41% reported  that while committing the crimes they were under the influence of either drugs or alcohol (Abs.gov, 2018). Many of these women were seen as committing crimes for collecting money necessary for toying alcohol or drugs for the addictions.

There requires serious consideration for the address of the problems that most of these Aboriginal women face. The offending patterns of  Aboriginal women are mostly seen to be linked with trauma, substance abuse, and mental illness, therefore a regular screening process conducted for the Aboriginal women upon their entrance in the prisons is required (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 expressed that there has been a tremendous rise in the prison population within the Aboriginal and indigenous people. In the  essay a detailed discussion is provided for the problem of overrepresentation of  Australian indigenous community in the prison system of Australia with a special reference towards the women of those communities. In this a brief analysis is conducted for the statistical data available for the incarceration rate of indigenous and Aboriginal people. The essay also provides the reasons for  increase in crime rate among Aboriginal women. Among indigenous and Aboriginal women victimisation is seen as one of the most important issues for  rise of crime rate among them. In many of the reports  released over the years the fact that has been viewed that most of these indigenous women are victims of severe physical, emotional, and psychological violence which leads them in the way of alcohol and substance abuse and in a subsequent manner towards the path of crime.

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

Anthony, T., 2015. Sentencing indigenous offenders.

Baldry, E. and Cunneen, C., 2014. Imprisoned Indigenous women and the shadow of colonial patriarchy. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology, 47(2), pp.276-298.

Balfour, G., 2013. Theorizing the intersectionality of victimisation, criminalization, and punishment of women: An introduction to the special issue. International Review of Victimology, 19(1), pp.3-5.

Cunneen, C., 2014. Colonial processes, Indigenous peoples, and criminal justice systems. The Oxford handbook of ethnicity, crime, and immigration, pp.386-407.

Devries, K.M., Child, J.C., Bacchus, L.J., Mak, J., Falder, G., Graham, K., Watts, C. and Heise, L., 2014. Intimate partner violence victimisation and alcohol consumption in women: A systematic review and meta‐analysis. Addiction, 109(3), pp.379-391.

Hovane, V., Dalton, T. and Smith, P., 2014. Aboriginal offender rehabilitation programs. Working together: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health and wellbeing principles and practice, pp.509-519.

McCausland, R., McEntyre, E. and Baldry, E., 2018. Institutions of Default and Management: Aboriginal Women with Mental and Cognitive Disability in Prison. In Mental Health in Prisons (pp. 185-210). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.

Short, D., 2016. Reconciliation and colonial power: Indigenous rights in Australia. Routledge.