New inquiry is not needed

The inquiry into high levels of Indigenous incarceration is a smoke and mirrors tactic by the Liberal government to be seen to be doing the right thing. Its narrow focus on legal reforms ignores the fact that criminal justice issues are the responsibilities of state and territory governments.  Nor will it address the social issues that contribute to the high number of Indigenous people in jail in the first place.

The legal factors behind the growing Indigenous incarceration rate are already known — such as mandatory sentencing and bail laws.  A recent study found the number of Indigenous people on remand (in custody awaiting trial or sentencing) grew by 238% between 2001 and 2015. However, even if the inquiry does develop a set of recommendations, the federal government would be powerless to implement the reforms because it is not their jurisdiction.

Rather than wasting money on yet another inquiry — where many of the recommendations come to naught — the federal government would be much better off focusing on the social issues that lead to high rates of incarceration.  Many Indigenous prisoners, particularly juvenile offenders, are not released on bail because there is often no suitable place to parole them to in their home town.

Around a quarter of parole applications in WA in 2015-206 were knocked back because of a lack of basic housing criteria and more than 80%  of those involved were Aboriginal boys. Sending them back to their families is not an option, as their home environment is often a significant factor in their offending.

Particular neighbourhoods and communities have higher rates of crime than others. When incarceration rates reach a certain level in a community, there is a ‘tipping point’ where imprisonment fails to be a deterrent.  Instead of imprisonment being seen as the fate of a few criminals it becomes a ‘fact of life’ or even, on some occasions, a ‘rite of passage.’

Similarly, in some parts of the country, the rate of hospitalisation for domestic violence victims is 86 times higher for Indigenous women than it is for non-Indigenous women.  Desperate to be seen to be doing something to combat the high Indigenous incarceration rate, the government has busied itself announcing inquiries and budget spends. But although the government’s recent announcement of a $25 million package for frontline services to prevent violence is welcome, this isn’t new money — just a re-announcement of the $100 million over 12 years for family violence in the 2016-17 federal budget.

In attempting to battle both those issues, simply spending money on Indigenous programs does not guarantee results. Implementing good policy to counteract high levels of Indigenous disadvantage requires much more than just deep pockets, it requires actively engaging with Indigenous communities about their needs.

A recent inquiry into the federal government’s allocation of Indigenous Advancement Strategy (IAS) funding, found there had been little consultation with communities about the programs and services they needed.

One possible solution to address the shockingly high rates of Indigenous juvenile incarnation suggested by Aboriginal people at the Don Dale inquiry, is bush camps for Indigenous youth who have committed minor offences.

In some parts of the Northern Territory, young offenders are already being paroled to remote communities so they can be separated from the negative influences of their peers and family in the towns and cities.

One such initiative is the Mt Theo program, which takes young offenders — referred by the police and correction services, or through court orders — out bush to learn about their culture and country. The program successfully helped rehabilitate petrol-sniffing teenagers in the 1990s and has strong support from the community who help fund it from mining royalties.

But although some of these remote outstations are havens from the alcohol and drug fuelled violence that plagues the larger settlements, most are not set up to provide the rehabilitative and education services juvenile delinquents need.

Recently, I visited a remote East Arnhem Land outstation that has started taking some young offenders released on bail, but the two resident teachers in the community are hard-pressed to provide them with the support they need in the classroom.

The young parolees are too embarrassed to sit in class alongside younger children who can read and write much better than them. To be truly effective, the process of paroling young offenders to remote communities needs to be accompanied with some targeted funding for services.

Our jails are filled with people with poor literacy and numeracy skills. Poor educational attainment is a strong determinant of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous offending. In fact, young Indigenous men are more likely to end up in jail than university.  If the federal government is serious about tackling high rates of Indigenous incarceration then it needs to focus on the reasons why young Indigenous people are committing offences in the first place.

Some of these are social and relate to the environment so many young Indigenous grow up in and the lack of appropriate role models, while others are the responsibility of government, such as the responsibility to provide all Australian citizens with the opportunity for a decent education.

Many young Indigenous people are behind the eight-ball even before they start school. Instead of committing funding to yet another inquiry, the federal government should be canvassing alternative options of imprisonment for young offenders, such as bush camps, and ensuring they are provided with the education they need to be free from a lifetime of crime.

Sara Hudson is a Research Fellow and Manager of the Indigenous Research Program at the Centre for Independent Studies.