The Issues Of The Criminal Justice System - 1526 Words

INTRODUCTION The realities and everyday necessities in Indigenous communities seem concealed and compromised in the enduring Indigenous criminal law discourse which is framed by issues throughout history, jurisdictions, prisons, courts and the criminal justice system. Whilst today’s intergeneration effects of poverty and the loss of autonomy fuel Indigenous disadvantage, the criminal law institution is another contributor which vividly displays disadvantages and barriers which preclude Indigenous Australians from sufficiently accessing justice. However, the pursuit for justice is more multifaceted than a return to Indigenous tradition and retainment of the dominant criminal justice system. The following essay will highlight this†¦show more content†¦Despite the echoed understanding that white and black shared the same law, the introduction of legal procedures such as coronial inquiries into Aboriginal deaths on Queensland’s pastoral frontier highlighted that justice for Abo riginals in the criminal law institution would not be achieved (Nettelbeck, 2013, 358). Today Indigenous Australians are severely over-represented as a group in the criminal justice system. It is well documented that Indigenous Australians are more likely to be sentences to a period of imprisonment, less likely to receive bail and are frequently overcharged (Allard et al., 2010 and Carpenter Ball 2012,97) 2005 specifically established that Indigenous juveniles aged 10 to 17 accounted for 52 percent of juveniles in detention across Australia, further highlighting that it was more probable for young Indigenous offenders to be sent to court, unlikely to receive a formal caution (Snowball 2008). Mazel (486: 2009) outlined that due to remote communities being cut off from education, Indigenous Australians were 13 times more likely to be jailed in comparison to non-indigenous Australians. These statistics have not improved in the last 10 years with the Australian Bureau of Statistics underlining a 7% increase between June 30 2014 and June 30 2015 where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders