• Troy Allard
• Indigenous Justice Clearinghouse

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Image: !borghetti / flickr

23 January 2011Indigenous over-representation is the most significant social justice and public policy issue for the Australian and New Zealand criminal justice systems. Closing the gap on Indigenous overrepresentation has been identified as a priority and promoted through the National Indigenous Law and Justice Framework and Reducing Offending by Māori Projec.

This research brief reports on the data available regarding Indigenous offending patterns, and finds that over- representation is particularly acute with regard to acts intended to cause injury, public order offences, offences against justice and unlawful entry. Like other offenders, Indigenous offenders are very likely to be male, substance abusers, unemployed and poor. The legacies of colonisation, dispossession and child removal policies, such as psychological distress and social disorganisation, also appear to be risk factors. The implications of these findings for crime prevention are examined.

Image: !borghetti / flickr