Aboriginal Deaths in Custody

Every year since at least this side of the millennium we have had recounted across our towns and cities something akin to a national jeremiad. It takes place on a date that is growing in infamy. Our annual lament fuels this growth, eroding foundational claims and, in the unstructured residue, draws strength for its own. One claim in particular with an outsize impact can be seen in banners demanding an end to aboriginal deaths in custody.

As is the case with all protestations, at the root of this demand is a perceived injustice to be remedied. The logical inferences must be that aboriginal people die more frequently than, or in some way that is different to, other people in custody, and that it is within the power of the state to prevent these deaths. The scope of the latter inference is somewhat dependent on the former: if there is a disparity, it might mean that targeted rather than system-wide changes could be implemented to at least remedy this imbalance; if however there is no such disparity then it would mean that in order to stop them from occurring, the system of incarceration as a whole would need, if it were possible, to be structurally modified in a way that prevented all deaths.

A Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody was established In 1987 in response to concerns about aboriginal deaths in custody. The Commission investigated Aboriginal deaths in custody over a 10-year period. It is a little known fact that even then the Commission found that aboriginal people did not die at a greater rate than aboriginal people. But because they were imprisoned at a greater rate as a percentage of their population in society, their deaths as a proportion of their overall population was higher than those for the general population. The commission nonetheless made a large number of recommendations many of which focused on proximate causes with recommendations to reduce instances of arrest and impoundment and for cultural changes for better collaboration between aboriginal communities and the criminal justice system and initiation of a reconciliation process between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians; a much smaller number focused specially on custodial procedures to prevent deaths.

Since the Commission’s findings were published and a large number of recommendations implemented the rate of aboriginal deaths in custody compared to non-Aboriginal deaths has significantly declined. It is now and has been the case for many years.