SUMMARY
INTRODUCTION
The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ 1994 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Survey included a number of questions relating to law and justice. A major goal was to fill some of the gaps in information, as it is only in recent years that information on the involvement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the criminal justice system, as revealed from the State and Territory Governments’ administrative data sets (rather than from one-off research studies) has started to become available.
EXPERIENCES WITH THE LAW
Of the 197,500 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 13 years and over in 1994, over 20% reported having been arrested (including being detained by police for public drunkenness) in the five years prior to the survey (i.e. 1989-94). Of particular significance was the relatively high proportion of young men in the age group 18-24 years arrested (46%), with 32% of them having been arrested more than once over the five years.
Some 37% of unemployed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people had been arrested in the five years prior to the survey, compared with 18% of employed people and 14% of those not in the labour force.
The most frequently reported reason for arrest was ‘disorderly conduct/drinking in public’ at 32% of those arrested, followed by drink driving offences at 23%.
Almost 10% of the population surveyed claimed that they had been ‘hassled’ by the police in the 12 months prior to interview. In addition, 4% of males, stated that they had been physically assaulted by police during the previous year.
PERCEPTIONS OF POLICE PERFORMANCE
Approximately 37% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 13 years and over considered that police do a good job in dealing with crime in their area. A similar proportion thought that they do a good job in dealing with violence generally, and 30% felt that they do a good job in dealing with family violence. Substantial proportions felt that police were not doing a good job in dealing with crime (27%), violence (22%) or family violence (21%). Around 13-16% thought that they sometimes did a good job in these areas while the remainder (19-36%) did not know or did not state an opinion.
Higher proportions of the younger adults aged 18-44 years felt that police did not do a good job in dealing with these problems than people in the oldest and youngest age groups.
Nationally, the reason most frequently given for police not doing a good job in dealing with crime generally and with violence was that police were ‘too slow to respond’, followed by the perception that police officers ‘don't understand Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander people/culture’ and ‘don't fully investigate’. Failure to understand the people and culture was the most frequently cited reason in the area of family violence, followed by ‘too slow to respond’.
While the majority of respondents thought that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people's relationships with the police were better or about the same compared with five years earlier, 19% thought that this relationship had worsened.
Some 56% of adults stated that they were treated fairly by police, whereas 8% expressed the view that they were not treated fairly. Of the remainder, 10% said that they were sometimes treated fairly while 27% did not state an opinion or had no contact with police.
ACCESS TO, NEED FOR AND USE OF LEGAL SERVICES
Overall, 15% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 13 years and over used legal services in the 12 months prior to the survey; 19% of males and 12% of females. Of these, 67% used a specialist Aboriginal Legal Service rather than a State or Territory Legal Aid Commission, private legal practitioner or other form of legal service.
Over 80% of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who lived in rural Australia were more than 50 kilometres from the nearest legal service, as were 57% of those living in non-capital city urban areas.
Of those who needed legal services, similar proportions were employed, unemployed and not in the labour force.
PERCEPTIONS OF FAMILY VIOLENCE
Some 45% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 13 years and over felt that family violence was a common problem in their area. Of respondents who felt they knew whether or not it was a common problem locally (31% of respondents), 68% of females and 63% of males expressed this view.
Lower proportions of capital city residents than those of other urban or rural areas perceived family violence to be a common problem in their area.
Only 12% of Tasmanian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people felt that family violence was a common problem locally, compared with 45% nationally and 55% in Western Australia.
EXPERIENCE OF CRIMINAL VICTIMISATION
More than 1 out of 10 (13%) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 13 years and over reported that they were physically attacked or verbally threatened in the 12 months prior to the survey. A marginally higher proportion of males than females was a victim of an attack or threat.
Among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander males living in Victoria, 29% reported that they had been attacked or verbally threatened in the 12 months prior to the survey in 1994.
Some 15% of people surveyed had been attacked or verbally threatened 10 or more times over the year.
Around one in three (37%) of last incidents of attack or verbal threat to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people had been reported to the police. The reason for failing to report the incident given most frequently was that people solved the problem themselves and/or the perpetrator was known to the victim.
In the 12 months prior to the survey, 11% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander households in Australia were broken into and something stolen. Of these incidents, 53% had been reported to the police. Less than one-third (30%) were reported in the Northern Territory.
PREDICTING PROBABILITIES OF ARREST
A number of characteristics were significantly associated with the probability of arrest over the previous five years, after adjusting for other relevant characteristics. The strongest association was with labour force status (being unemployed). This was followed by perceiving that relations with the police had worsened over the previous five years, having been taken away from family as a child, age group and State of residence.
DISCUSSION
Law and justice are issues of considerable importance to Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The nature of the criminal law of the Commonwealth, the States and the Territories, patterns of policing and the operation of other parts of the criminal justice system impact heavily on some sectors of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population. An additional, and important, dimension is customary law which often sits uncomfortably with the statute law which applies to all Australians.
