Suchergebnisse

It is well publicised that Aborigines, both adult and juvenile, are over‐represented in the criminal justice system. However, an examination of youth offending in South Australia during the period 1 July 1979 — 30 June 1983 has indicated that the degree of Aboriginal over‐representation increases rapidly as they move up through the various stages of the system. They are least over‐represented at the lowest stage, namely at the Children's Aid Panel level, and most over‐represented at the sentencing stage of the Children's Court in terms of the numbers sentenced to detention in a youth training centre. This raises questions about the applicability of the juvenile section of the criminal justice system to Aborigines.

Abstract: Analysts of criminal justice have become increasingly sensitive to the question of the voluntariness of the defendant's plea. In England, the United States and Australia it has been argued that pressures are applied to defendants to admit guilt. Although these studies have focussed predominantly on the adult jurisdiction, there is ample evidence to suggest that the majority of children also plead guilty, thereby waiving their right to a trial and its associated procedural protections. Employing the South Australian system of juvenile justice as a case study, this paper considers whether the high rate of guilty pleas is a function of pressures, appropriate or otherwise, brought to bear on the young defendant.

This book is a 1990 account of the ways in which young Aborigines were at a disadvantage before laws and legislation had been introduced, intended to improve their position. Aboriginal Youth and the Criminal Justice System focuses on South Australia, where detailed statistics are available, in a sophisticated analysis of the exact nature of the discrimination experienced by young Aborigines. Fay Gale, Rebecca Bailey-Harris and Joy Wundersitz examine the criminal justice system in operation; from the initial intervention by a police officer, through the process of screening and assessment to the final outcome - which all too often is a criminal record. The research clearly shows that at every point where discretion was exercised within this system, Aboriginal youths received the harsher option. Thus disadvantage is heaped on disadvantage until young Aboriginals were imprisoned at 23 times the rate of other young Australians. Even for those who escaped detention, participation in the criminal justice system was often such an ordeal that it became a form of punishment in itself. Discretion, though preferable to inflexible rules could operate against a group whose lifestyle and values differed from mainstream society