MEDIA RELEASE: Australian Bar Association is right: high Indigenous incarceration rate is due to disadvantage not racism

The Australian Bar Association’s (ABA) assessment that the over-representation of Aboriginal people in the criminal justice system has nothing to do with racial discrimination but rather mandatory sentencing laws which discriminate against all disadvantaged Australians is correct, according to the Centre for Independent Studies.

The high Indigenous crime and incarceration rate is primarily a problem of poverty. Australia’s most disadvantaged postcodes have at least twice the rate of unemployment, criminal convictions and imprisonment than other postcodes, says Indigenous Research Manager at the Centre for Independent Studies, Sara Hudson.

“One of the main reasons why the Indigenous incarceration rate is 13 times higher than non-Indigenous Australians is because a greater proportion of Indigenous Australians live in low socioeconomic, welfare dependent suburbs or communities with corresponding higher levels of crime,” she says.

“Many Indigenous people end up getting locked up for minor crimes like traffic offences, because they do not have the education to get a licence or the financial means to pay their fines.

“The suggestion by the ABA to review mandatory sentencing laws for minor offences, including reviewing the practice of jailing fine defaulters, would help to reduce the Indigenous incarceration rate.”

However, Ms Hudson cautions against the use of Justice Reinvestment, particularly for serious offenders, who are in prison for a good reason.

“It is important to recognise that a large proportion (more than 50 per cent) of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are in jail for serious crimes such as homicide, assault and sex offences. The real victims – the people assaulted or even killed by their partner or family member are often forgotten amid concerns with the rising Indigenous incarceration rate,” Ms Hudson says.

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