Submission to the Inquiry into the High Level of First Nations People in Custody and Oversight Review of Deaths in Custody
7 September 2020 | Download full submission
This submission addresses:
- Our concern that over-incarceration of First Nations people is not a new issue: successive governments have had ample opportunity to act on the hundreds of recommendations relating to this issue, and have collectively failed to act adequately.
- The failure of prison as a solution to crime, and the importance of adequately resourcing First Nations-led alternatives to imprisonment.
- The role of prejudicial, targeted over-policing of First Nations people and communities in the over-incarceration and deaths in custody of First Nations people.
- Necessary reforms to the Bail Act to add a standalone provision for Aboriginality.
- Several changes to the Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998 (NSW) that are necessary in order to break the ‘care-criminalisation’ cycle that drives over-incarceration of First Nations people.