Editors --- "Implementation of the Commonwealth Government Responses to the Recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody - Digest" [1997] AUIndigLawRpr 50; (1997) 2(4) Australian Indigenous Law Reporter 526

• Executive Summary
• All Deaths in Custody
• Deaths in Custody, Australia, Year to 30 June 1996
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Deaths in Custody
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Juveniles in Juvenile Detention Centres
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People in Police Custody
• Levels of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Over-representation in Police Custody Jurisdiction, August 1995
• Numbers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People in Prison Custody
• Levels of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Over-representation in Prison Jurisdiction, January 1993 to March 1996

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Implementation of the Commonwealth Government Responses to the Recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody

ANNUAL REPORT 1995-1996

Royal Commission Government Response Monitoring Unit,
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, 1997

This report is is a direct response to Recommendations 41 and 47 of the Commonwealth's Response to the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. The commission highlighted the need for the monitoring, on an on-going basis, of Australian deaths in custody. Specifically, these recommendations dealt with the preparation and publishing of an annual report on the trends in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths in custody and the trends in incarceration of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in juvenile correctional institutions. The National Deaths in Custody Monitoring and Research Program at the Australian Institute of Criminology was given the responsibility for providing this data. The executive summary from the annual report is reproduced here.

Executive Summary

All Deaths in Custody

A total of 75 people were reported to have died during the year ended 30 June 1996. Twenty-seven of these deaths occurred in police custody or custody-related police operations and 46 in prison custody. Two juveniles died in the custody of juvenile justice agencies. Deaths were reported in each of Australia's States and Territories. Thirty-two percent of the deaths (24) occurred in NSW, 19% (14) in Queensland, 17% (13) in Victoria, with lower proportions occurring in the other jurisdictions.

Deaths in Custody, Australia, Year to 30 June 1996

CUSTODIAL AUTHORITY	ABORIGINAL	OTHER	TOTAL
Police	6	21	27
Prison	13	33	46
Juvenile detention	-	2	2
Total	19	56	75

It should be noted that there was a reduction in the proportion of deaths in police custody in institutional settings. Of the police custody deaths, 26% occurred in police lock-ups, police vehicles or in hospitals following transfer from a police lock-up compared to 29% during the previous year. The total number of prison deaths has fallen for the second consecutive year from 57 deaths in 1993-94 to 46 in the current year. Unfortunately, and cause for concern, is the high number of Aboriginal deaths continuing to occur in prison custody.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Deaths in Custody

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths in all forms of custody have escalated to a total of 19 deaths in the current year. This figure is 46% greater than the 13 deaths reported in the previous year and the highest figure recorded since 1990-91 when eight Aboriginal people died in all forms of custody. The sharp increase is reflected in both police and prison custody.

The deaths of 13 Aboriginal people in prison custody has risen to the highest number recorded over the 16 years for which national data are available, and can be compared with just two deaths in some of those years.

The six Aboriginal deaths in all forms of police custody is, except for one year, the highest number recorded since 1990-91. One of the six Aboriginal deaths in police custody occurred in a police lock-up. While there has been a notable reduction in the number of Aboriginal people dying in police lock-ups, concern needs to be directed towards the high number of Aboriginal deaths occurring in the course of custody-related police operations. Specifically, the five remaining Aboriginal deaths in police custody occurred in the course of, or immediately following, a police pursuit.

The causes of death of the 19 Aboriginal people are similar to the previous year. Six were a result of self-inflicted hanging, five arose from illness and eight deaths resulted from injuries. This pattern over the last two years is contrary to earlier years when disease accounted for a larger proportion of Aboriginal deaths in custody.

It needs to be emphasised yet again that Aboriginal people are heavily over represented in the number of custodial deaths compared with their number in the community.

They represent only 1.3% of the national adult population but this year more than 25% of all custodial deaths were of Aboriginal people. This is a significant increase from the previous year when they accounted for 17% of all custodial deaths. In 1992-93 they accounted for only 10% of the year's custodial deaths. An examination of trends in custodial deaths shows that the total number of custodial deaths (75) for the year under review is similar to that of the previous year (76).

Since 31 May 1989, the cut-off date for the deaths investigated by the Royal Commission, a total of 93 Aboriginal and 432 non-Aboriginal custodial deaths have occurred throughout Australia. This is an average of 13.1 Aboriginal deaths annually compared with an average of 10.5 during the period covered by the Royal Commission's investigations. On 9 May 1991, the Royal Commission's National Report was tabled in the Commonwealth Parliament. Since that date an average of 13.6 Aboriginal deaths have occurred each year. These figures cover deaths in both institutional and community settings.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Juveniles in Juvenile Detention Centres

The Australian Institute of Criminology holds limited data on Indigenous juveniles in detention for each quarter since September 1993. The situation on 30 June 1996 is outlined in some detail in this report, and some preliminary observations on trends in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander juvenile detention are made.

NSW, Western Australia and Queensland contribute the overwhelming majority of Indigenous juveniles in juvenile corrective institutions: an average of 85% of all Indigenous youth detained across the latest three year period were held in these three States.

The detention rates of Indigenous youth are also highest in these States, and in South Australia. Overall, Indigenous juvenile detention rates in South Australia have declined across the three year period from 1993 to 1996, but they seem to be rising in the other three states, particularly in Queensland. Nationally, the Indigenous juvenile detention rate has risen substantially between 30 September 1993 and 30 June 1996 (408/100,000 to 540/100,000), and the trend over the period seems to be upwards.

There is evidence that the proportion of Indigenous detainees who are remanded, rather than sentenced, is increasing, particularly in Queensland.

Nationally, the level of over-representation of Indigenous youth in detention appears to be rising, with Queensland showing the most significant upward shift across the three year time period.

Policies and practices to reduce detention rates need to be targeted specifically to the Indigenous youth sector, and current policies and practices which impact differentially on Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth, leading to greater Indigenous youth over-representation in detention, should be re-thought.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People in Police Custody

No State or Territory regularly publishes information on the number of people it takes into police custody. For this reason, the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody recommended, and all jurisdictions agreed, that the Australian Institute of Criminology (in conjunction with the police services) regularly conduct national surveys on people in police cells. The first such survey, the National Police Custody Survey, was conducted in August 1988 under the auspices of the Royal Commission. The second and third such surveys were conducted by the Australian Institute of Criminology in August 1992 and August 1995. Excellent cooperation between the Institute and the eight police services has led to the success of the survey program.

Now that this Survey has been conducted three times, it is possible to point to changes in the use of police custody over time. A comparison of the 1988 and 1992 surveys concluded that, nationally, the total number of incidents of police custody had decreased by 10.2%. By 1995, the number of incidents (from 1988) had decreased by 23%. For Indigenous people, this was a decrease of 10.5% between 1988 and 1992 and 6.2% between 1992 and 1995.

Although there was an overall fall in the number of occasions of custody, the proportion of the total who were Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people did not fall. In 1988 and 1992 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people represented 28.6 and 28.8% respectively of all persons held in police custody. The figure for 1995 increased to 31.8%.

The levels of Aboriginal over-representation in police custody in 1995, ie, the ratio of Aboriginal custody rates to non-Aboriginal custody rates, for Australia, the States and Territories are shown in the following table.

Nationally, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were 27 times more likely to have been taken into police custody than other Australians; a figure similar to that obtained from previous surveys. Nevertheless, the over-representation ratios showed significant variations between jurisdictions. Western Australia, the Australian Capital Territory and South Australia had over-representation ratios above the national average in 1995. For the remaining jurisdictions, over-representation ratios were below the national average. Comparison of the results for 1995 with those from the two previous surveys shows that the level of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander over-representation tended to increase in NSW and the Australian Capital Territory, and at a lesser extent in Queensland and South Australia. On the other hand, the over-representation ratio for Western Australia declined.

For the other jurisdictions the level of over-representation in police custody remained relatively stable over the survey periods.

Levels of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Over-representation in Police Custody Jurisdiction, August 1995

Jurisdiction:	NSW	Vic.	Qld	WA	SA	Tas	NT	ACT	Aust.
Level:	20	12	19	39	29	6	11	34	7

Numbers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People in Prison Custody

At the time of writing, the Australian Bureau of Statistics had not released data or reports relating to the 1994 or 1995 National Prison Census. Therefore, the information and figures provided in this section are derived from prison statistics released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics for the period June 1994 to March 1996, complemented by data held by the Australian Institute of Criminology for the period from January 1993 to June 1994. Between the period January 1993 and March 1996, most Australian jurisdictions reported increases in their Aboriginal prison populations. The exceptions here were the Northern Territory and Tasmania where numbers remained relatively stable. NSW recorded the largest number of Aboriginal prisoners, followed by Queensland and Western Australia, impacting heavily on the observed increasing trend.

Levels of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Over-representation in Prison Jurisdiction, January 1993 to March 1996

Jurisdiction:	NSW	Vic	Qld	WA	SA	Tas	NT	ACT	Aust.
Level:	14.0	17.5	14.2	22.6	21.5	4.1	8.6	8.3	16.4

The Aboriginal rate of imprisonment increased by 35.4% during the period January 1993 to March 1996, compared to a decline of between 1.1 and 3% during the same period for the non-Aboriginal rate of imprisonment. The over-representation ratios, ie, the ratio of the rate of imprisonment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to the rate of imprisonment for non-Indigenous people, continue to be not only unacceptably high, but increasing over the period under review. The national over-representation ratio increased, on average, by 0.8% a month or 9.6% per year. The largest increase was observed in NSW. For the 12-month period from April 1995 to March 1996 the national level of over-representation increased by 3.4%.