Mandatory jailing 'masks black genocide' By MATTHEW ABRAHAM 19may99 MANDATORY sentencing laws could be masking a "hidden genocidal intent" given new research showing rising Aboriginal imprisonment rates across Australia, NSW magistrate Pat O'Shane has warned. Ms O'Shane, an outspoken advocate of Aboriginal rights, said despite evidence Aborigines were no more "criminal" than the rest of the population, the latest figures showed Aboriginal imprisonment had continued to increase since the 1991 royal commission findings into Aboriginal deaths in custody. Delivering the Elliott Johnston tribute address at Adelaide's Flinders University last night, Ms O'Shane said that as research showed harsher penalties had little if any effect on crime rates, it was difficult to avoid the view the Northern Territory's mandatory sentencing laws were "targetted specifically at Aborigines". "If we accept the findings of the royal commission that the major cause of Aboriginal deaths in custody is the fact that they are in custody too often, we might permit ourselves to wonder aloud whether there might even be a hidden genocidal intent in the Northern Territory's mandatory sentencing laws," Ms O'Shane said. Ms O'Shane said while the royal commission found Aborigines were 10 times more likely than non-Aboriginal people to be in prison, an examination of the types of offences of conviction or charge showed "Aborigines are no more criminal than are non-Aboriginal Australians". She said research by the University of Sydney and the Australian National University for a new book indicated imprisonment rates for all Australians had risen, but those for Aborigines had outstripped non-Aboriginal rates. The 1995 National Prison Census showed 17.1 per cent of all prisoners were Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, when they made up only 1.3 per cent of the population. In 1986, Aborigines made up 14.6 per cent of all prisoners and 1.46 per cent of the total population. "Increased imprisonment rates, far from being signifiers that Aborigines have become more criminal in the recent past, rather indicate abject failure by governments," she said. Ms O'Shane also criticised cases of "passive pin-pricking racism", such as mandatory sentencing and the common practice of serving released Aboriginal prisoners with warrants for previous offences. ************************************************************************* This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
LL:ART: Mandatory jailing 'masks black genocide'
Deaths In Custody Watch Commitee (WA) Inc. Mon, 24 May 1999 16:13:10 +0800