Indigenous perpetrators of violence : prevalence and risk factors for offending

Description

The issue of violence in Indigenous communities has attracted serious and increasing political and media attention in recent years, the culmination of which is represented by the Northern Territory Emergency Response and the Violence and Child Abuse Intelligence Task Force. This report focuses on the Indigenous perpetrators of this violence with the aim of providing quantifiable and empirical evidence on risk factors, prevalence and nature of violent behaviours. The first section of the paper deals with conceptual issues and key definitions and includes an overview of the ecological systems approach to research adopted by the study, before summarising some general criminological theories to help in later explanations. The second section presents statistics on the nature and frequency of discussed violence, drawing comparisons with non-Indigenous offenders and offering a description of victims and the relationship of victims to the offender. The report then goes on to illuminate the cultural, historical, community, individual and familial risk factors to violence before offering conclusions and suggestions for better addressing gaps in the research and data collection on information relating to Indigenous violent offenders and case histories.

Copyright Information

© Australian Institute of Criminology 2010 ISSN 1836-2060 (Print) 1836-2079 (Online) ISBN 978 1 921532 48 1 (Print) 978 1 921532 49 8 (Online) Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth), no part of this publication may in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, microcopying, photocopying, recording or otherwise) be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted without prior written permission. Inquiries should be addressed to the publisher. Project no. 0144 Ethics approval no. PO128 Published by the Australian Institute of Criminology GPO Box 2944 Canberra ACT 2601 Tel: (02) 6260 9200 Fax: (02) 6260 9299 Email: front.desk@aic.gov.au Website: http://www.aic.gov.au Please note: minor revisions are occasionally made to publications after release. The online versions available on the AIC website will always include any revisions. Disclaimer: This research report does not necessarily re?ect the policy position of the Australian Government. Edited and typeset by the Australian Institute of Criminology