The Rise and Rise of Incarceration of First Nations Peoples in Australia: Identifying the Causes, Reducing the Problem

• In Event: Policy Trends, Reforms, and Strategies in Reducing Incarceration: The Role of States and Communities

Abstract

Despite widespread acknowledgement of the need to reduce the mass incarceration of Australia’s First Nations peoples, efforts to date have been tokenistic, ineffective and at times, counter-productive. Even with a clear mandate to reduce the overrepresentation of First Nations peoples a quarter of a century ago, the rate of incarceration of Indigenous Australians has increased 84% over this time to the current rate of 2,253 per 100,000. This is unacceptable by any standards, but especially in contrast to that of non-Indigenous Australians (146 per 100,000) and in the context of mass incarceration in the United States (698 per 100,000). While reducing prisoner numbers is squarely on the US agenda, the over-representation of First Nations peoples in Australian prisons is a “wicked problem” lacking a clear reduction plan. In this paper we identify the multiple causes of the high rates of incarceration of First Nations peoples, including intergenerational disadvantage and disruptions to kinship, culture and communities. We advance a preliminary action plan for a combined policy and research response that addresses youth justice contacts, adult offending, sentencing and imprisonment, and the ongoing “churn” of incarceration.

Authors

• Susan Dennison, Griffith University

• Krystal Lockwood, Griffith University

• Todd Clear, Rutgers University