Aboriginal Law Bulletin --- "Aboriginal Imprisonment" [1988] AboriginalLawB 3; (1988) 1(30) Aboriginal Law Bulletin 2

• Aboriginal Imprisonment

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Aboriginal Imprisonment

The Australian Institute of Criminology recently released a set of statistics on Aboriginal imprisonment, based on the National Prison Census.

They found that:

• Aborigines make up only 1.3% of the total Australian population, yet they account for about 15% of the prison population.
• Over two-thirds of the prisoners in the Northern Territory and approximately one-third in Western Australia are Aboriginals. Yet they make up only 24.1% of the NT population and 2.7% of the WA population generally.

Of the Aborigines imprisoned:

• Four in five are sent for property, traffic and minor violent offences.
• Only 1% are on drug related charges.
• Fewer than one in five are in custody for homicide and robbery.