Systemic Racism Research Paper

The report also found that Aboriginal people are sentenced to longer terms, spend more time in maximum security or segregation, are less likely to be granted parole, and are more likely to have their parole revoked (CSC, 2013). Correctional Investigator Howard Sapers concluded that the numbers of Aboriginal offenders continues to grow each year and that there were “serious gaps between the law and practice” when it came to dealing with aboriginal inmates (Ljunggren, 2013, p.1).

Provision [SCRGSP], 2005; Jeffries and Bond, 2012). It is also widely discussed that there is an overrepresentation of Indigenous Australians in the criminal justice system itself (Jeffries and Bond, 2009), representing up to one quarter of prisoners in Australia (Makkai and Payne, 2003; Payne, 2005). This essay will address the current issues that Indigenous Australians face within the criminal justice system, particularly, with courts. The aim of this essay besides addressing these issues will also be to provide suggestions or alternatives that may help resolve the presented issues and improve the experience for Indigenous Australians in court.

Throughout history African Americans have faced and still face many hardships. African American males in particular are often linked to negative statistics and stereotypes. In fact, they suffer more and are victims of racial profiling and racism more than any other ethnic group. Racism has a deeper meaning than most people may think. It goes beyond what the average person may think. Racism can be defined as, the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races. In particular, it stems from one person thinking that his or her race is more superior to another.

How often do we stop to think about the minorities of this country and how they become involved and are treated in the criminal justice system? I surmise; only some of us will concern ourselves with such details. For some like myself; we might work with individuals of the Aboriginal community or have interacted with members of this group whether through school or work. Canada “had an Aboriginal identity in 2011 of 4 % or 1.4 million people” (Kelly-Scott and Smith, 2015). Of this total there is a gross overrepresentation of Aboriginal people in Canada’s Criminal Justice System. This overrepresentation of Aboriginals in the CJS comes as a result of socio economic factors, sentencing reforms, systemic discrimination, education and employment and victimization of Aboriginal women. In partial fulfilment of this course, this paper will address the leading factors which has led to the overrepresentation of this group in the CJS.

When considering why criminal law is important in achieving justice for Indigenous Australians it is pertinent to recognise that Indigenous people are grossly over-represented in the criminal justice system. Recent data suggests that Indigenous Australians aged 10 and over are 7.5 times

There is alarming number of Indigenous Australia’s currently serving time in prisons and from 2001 the numbers has been increasing. According to Krieg (2006) Indigenous incarceration may be the direct consequences of inadequate housing, mental health, substance use, family violence and disability.

Minister if you will turn your attention to the following chart, which shows a comparison of imprisonment rates between different countries. It is thoroughly disappointing to see that the Aboriginal’s represent Australia with such substantial numbers. Minister there are alarming numbers the gravity of this situation transfers to other areas. Furthermore Western Australia the Aboriginal imprisonment rates are at an astounding 3,741, in comparison to the Aboriginal people the rest of Australia at

The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (RCIADIC) in 1991 provided documentation on the death of indigenous Australians in prison or police custody. In doing so the report highlighted the substantial over representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the Criminal Justice system and provided detailed analysis of underlying factors. The reports findings were believed to be the foundation of change. However, regardless of a range of policy changes and crime prevention programs in repose to the report, over representation in the criminal justice system remains. The issue is one of the most significant social justice and public policy issue in the contemporary Australian criminal justice system. The RCIADIC made 339 recommendations, most of which have been implemented into the criminal justice system over the past two decades. Never the less the systematic over representation remains prevalent. The purpose of this essay is to understand over representation as it exists in the contemporary criminal justice system. Particular emphasise will be placed on the levels of women and youths in the criminal justice system, their contact with the system and empirically based risk factors pertaining to over representation. An evaluation of alternative programs in the pre and post sentencing stage and the impact such programs would have on the over representation will be conducted.

Cunneens (2007) articles showed relative statistics, showing the negative effects of the relationship between the two groups, whether it is one groups wrong doing or not, the evidence shows that there is an issue that needs urgent attention and resolving. “Indigenous people were 17 times more likely to be held in custody than non-Indigenous people in Australia” this raw fact can be looked at from two different perspectives; number one the indigenous community are victimised by the police, or two a major percentage of the indigenous community are being involved in crime. Considering the indigenous population compared to the non indigenous community is so small, it does

The Aboriginal concepts of justice compared to Western concepts of justice are quite different. Aboriginal peoples are therefore required to fit into a system that does not recognize their values. This difference in beliefs and values in relation to the criminal justice system represents a clash between the two cultures, which results in Aboriginal peoples being incarcerated at higher rates than non-Aboriginal

The over-representation of Indigenous people in the criminal justice system is a large problem in society and reasons as to why this may be occurring need to be examined (Walker & McDonald, 1995; AIC, 2013). Indigenous Australians make up less than three per cent of the overall Australian population, however Indigenous people are over-represented in Australian prison populations, with imprisonment rates that are around 12 times those of the rest of the Australian population (AIC, 2013). Rates of over-representation are even higher in juvenile detention, with a 10-17 year old Indigenous person being around 24 times more likely to be in detention than a non-Indigenous person of the same age (AIC, 2013; Cunneen & White, 2011). Indigenous Australians overrepresentation in the criminal justice system is usually due to offences pertaining to violence and public disorder (ABS, 2010; Hogg & Carrignton, 2006). This is endorsed by the fact that Indigenous Australians currently make up 40 per cent of those imprisoned for assault offences (AIC, 2013). The over representation of Indigenous Australians in the criminal justice system may be attributed to a variety of reasons, known as risk factors (AIC, 2013).

Through statistical data, it is apparent that structural inequality exists within the criminal system for Indigenous women. Bond and Jeffries (2010) research, looked at the difference between imprisonment rates for Indigenous women and non-Indigenous women over a 9-year period for comparable offences (1996-2005). It was found that Indigenous women were found, on average,

Critics subject that these instruments introduce cultural bias that negatively and unfairly affect the risk assessment of Aboriginal offenders. Gutierrez (2014) states that risk assessments “founded on cultural values/experiences largely representative of a non-Aboriginal society, not only improperly capture the true risk of an Aboriginal offender to reoffend (due to the inadequacy of the factors), they serve to further disadvantage the Aboriginal offender when used for criminal justice decision making (Gutierrez, 2014). Thus, is suggested that risk assessments used for Aboriginal offenders from the ground up, should be developed consistent with factors that are culturally relevant to Aboriginals themselves (Gutierrez, Wilson, Rugge & Bonta, 2013). Gutierrez (2014) states… “the use of these assessments, founded on cultural values/experiences largely representative of a non-Aboriginal society, not only improperly [captures] the true risk of an Aboriginal offender to reoffend (due to the inadequacy of the factors), they serve to further disadvantage the Aboriginal offender when used for criminal justice decision making”. In result, Native Aboriginals are further marginalized within the Criminal Justice

Throughout this course we have learned about many things, one in particular would be Racism. We have learned about many different types of racism along with examples of racism. Before I go into specific examples of racism that I have learn about in this class, I will first define and explain the differences between racism, prejudice or also known as bias, discrimination, race, and racist so there 's a clear understanding of why I picked the specific examples. The definition of racism that we learned in class would be an “Institutionalized system with disproportionate unjust outcomes for a particular race”. Prejudice or also known as bias was defined as “A negative feeling, opinion, or attitude toward a certain category or people” this would be an feeling with no action acted upon, where discrimination is defined as “Action or inaction toward a category of people” which would be acting on the negative feelings or opinions of a certain group. The definition for race is a “Social construct, but a lived reality” while a racist is “Discrimination based on the category of race”. (Disadvantage privilege notes, 2016)

Moreover, the ability to determine which laws are in affect with which Indigenous and non-indigenous Australian’s becomes limited and the issue falls to public disapproval. Due to the unwritten nature of aboriginal customary law confusion would arise as to who must/can abide by certain customary laws and punishments for those who disobey. An injustice would then occur when distinguishing which indigenous Australian’s receive the blanket of customary law and whether or not it extends to half casts and if so, to whom does it extend. This general confusion would create not only laws that are un-easy to follow but would also create many general misinterpretations of the law and could lead to further racism attitudes. Said racism attitudes would ignite when scrutiny over punishments and who receives them arises while people strive for equality and argue over the degree of fairness received. This scrutiny not only hinders the status of indigenous Australian’s rather than improving it, but can also lead to future hostilities and class/status debates again creating the possibility of a negative impact.