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20 Current Issues Crim. Just. 323 (2008-2009)
Criminology, Criminal Justice and Indigenous People: A Dysfunctional Relationship?

handle is hein.journals/cicj20 and id is 331 raw text is: Criminology, Criminal Justice and Indigenous People: A Dysfunctional Relationship?t The John Barry Memorial Lecture, University of Melbourne, 25 November 2008 Chris Cunneen, NewSouth Global Professor of Criminology, University of New South Wales, Sydney Introduction This lecture looks at issues of crime and violence in Indigenous communities in the context of broader problems of criminal justice law, policy and practice. In particular it addresses four points: * the problem the legal system has in ensuring protection of Indigenous women in the context of domestic and family violence; * the problem Indigenous people have in using the legal system to protect and enhance their own interests and rights, particularly in the area of civil and family law, and the implications this has for criminalisation; * Indigenous access to legal advice and representation and funding issues associated with Aboriginal legal services; and * the limitations of criminal justice agencies in developing strategic policies that change the way they do business with Indigenous people. The difficulties experienced by Indigenous people in their interactions with the criminal justice system are well documented and regularly reported upon through the Review of Government Service Provision process (Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service Provision 2007). The extent of over-representation of Indigenous people in the criminal justice system has deepened since the landmark Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody in 1991 and the recent 2007 Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage Report noted that Indigenous people's 'involvement with the criminal justice system continued to deteriorate' (Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service Provision 2007:4). It is not the purpose of this lecture to review all the relevant data on the problems of over- representation in the criminal justice system. I simply note that Indigenous prisoners represent 24% of the total national prisoner population - a proportion of the prison population which has been consistent over the last few years (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2008). Imprisonment rates for Indigenous men and women have increased quickly: between t The author acknowledges the work of Melanie Schwartz and Fiona Allison in various sections of this paper.

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