The importance of Indigenous stories : the Victorian Implementation Review of the Recommendations from the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody

Description

The release of this Review provides an assessment of the consequences of dispossession and how they manifest in continuing high rates of Indigenous representation in all stages of the Victorian criminal justice system. The aim of the review was to determine the extent to which the Victorian Government and departmental agencies had responded to the 339 recommendations of the ‘Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody’ (1991). A key feature of the current Review is its criticism of the previous reviews which were considered constrained in their methodology by an absence of the views and perspectives of the Victorian Indigenous communities. This Review adopts a methodology that ensures Indigenous voices and stories are properly captured. Other material was derived from more traditional sources, such as government agencies, and historical statistical data. The findings suggest there is still major overrepresentation of Indigenous people in the criminal justice system, and the Review devotes substantial space to underlying issues that provide the developmental pathways for Indigenous offending, including education, employment and economic status, housing, families and children, health and well-being, alcohol and other substances, community capacity, land needs and cultural survival, and reconciliation. A further 164 recommendations are directed at all aspects of Victorian Government that have a significant impact on Indigenous communities.

Copyright Information

This document has been sourced from the Indigenous Law Bulletin, previously known as the Aboriginal Law Bulletin, database published on Austlii (http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/IndigLawB/). AustLII advises that it is not the copyright owner of the source documents published on AustLII and is not able to give permission for reproduction of those source documents (refer copyright policy disclaimer dated October 2010). Queries about copyright should be referred to the publisher - the Indigenous Law Centre and the University of New South Wales.