Gardiner, Greg --- "Indigenous Men and the Victoria Police: Alleged Offenders, Rates of Arrest and Over - Representation in the 1990s" [2001] IndigLawB 39; (2001) 5(8) Indigenous Law Bulletin 18

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Ten years after the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody delivered its final report and recommendations, Australia’s criminal justice system continues to arrest and incarcerate Indigenous people in ever increasing numbers. The country’s human rights performance overall in the post-Commission period is abysmal. Today 1 in 5 of all prisoners in Australia is Indigenous; 1 in 5 of all custodial deaths is of an Indigenous person; and the 19 Indigenous deaths in custody in 1999 were the second highest number of Indigenous deaths recorded for the decade.[1] These poor results are not confined to the northern and western states. As the present study shows, the arrest rate for Indigenous adult men in Victoria is extraordinary – an average of 330 arrests per 1,000 of population. This study investigates Indigenous peoples’, and in particular Indigenous male adults’, first point of contact with the criminal justice system in one jurisdiction in the 1990s: the processing of Indigenous alleged offenders by Victoria Police.

Sources, Definitions and Methods

The most recent census data[2] and data obtained from the Victoria Police form the principal basis for this analysis. They allow for temporal comparisons between Indigenous and non-Indigenous alleged offenders over a broad range of offence classes and categories, across different age groups and gender.[3] The current study reviews the data obtained covering the period 1993/94 to 1996/97, and focuses on two primary areas: Indigenous alleged offenders processed each year from 1993/94 to 1996/97;[4] and arrest rates and over-representation ratios for two periods – 1993/94 and 1996/97.[5] All definitions reflect those employed by Victoria Police over the period.[6]

Indigenous Alleged Offenders 1993/94 to 1996/97: Total

From 1 July 1993 to 30 June 1997, Victoria Police processed a total number of 13,444 Indigenous alleged offenders, an average of 3,361 processings per annum. The total Indigenous population in Victoria at June 1996 stood at 22,598. Notwithstanding the fact that the alleged offender total includes the processing of repeat offenders,[7] the figures of 13,444 (and 3,361) represent an extraordinarily high number of Indigenous alleged offenders processed in relation to the size of the Indigenous community – a figure all the more extraordinary since it does not include arrests of Indigenous people for drunkenness.

Between 1993/94 and 1996/97 the total number of Indigenous alleged offenders processed by Victoria Police rose by 21.5 per cent, rising from a total of 2,905 in 1993/94 to a total of 3,530 in 1996/97. Over the same period, the total number of non-Indigenous alleged offenders processed by Victoria Police increased by 13.1 per cent.

Indigenous Alleged Offenders 1993/94 to 1996/97: Male Adults

Male adults are the single largest contributory group, by age or gender, to the total of Indigenous alleged offenders processed by Victoria Police. As Gardiner previously reported in 1998,[8] Indigenous adult men in Victoria have a level of contact with Victoria Police that ranks them statistically amongst the most arrested groups of people in the developed world, a situation underlined by the present study. The total number of Indigenous adult male alleged offenders processed over the whole period is 7,299, with a total of 2,081 processings in 1996/97. The total Indigenous male adult population in Victoria at June 1996 was just 6,312. Were this high rate of processing to apply to the non-Indigenous adult male community, then in 1996/97 alone, arrests of non-Aborigines would number in the vicinity of half a million! In such a scenario there would no doubt be a public outcry of such magnitude that urgent remedial action would be undertaken. To date no such attention has been paid to the position of Indigenous men, whose fate in relation to the criminal justice system in Victoria challenges the state’s reputation in, and commitment to, fundamental human rights. In national terms, this reality may well place the country in breach of international treaty obligations to which Australia is signatory.[9]

Between 1993/94 and 1996/97 the total number of Indigenous adult male alleged offenders rose by 26.4 per cent, from 1,646 in 1993/94 to 2,081 in 1996/97. Over the same period, the total number of non-Indigenous adult male alleged offenders increased by 16.2 per cent. Each class of crime saw significant to very large increases of Indigenous adult male alleged offenders.

Of the three general classes, ‘crime against property’ saw the majority of Indigenous male offenders processed in 1996/97 (1049 of 2081) and also saw the largest increases by number and percentage over the period. However, the category of ‘other summary offences’, under ‘other crime’, remained the single most commonly processed offence type for Indigenous men in Victoria, with 369 alleged offenders in 1996/97. This category includes many of the ‘street offences’, such as indecent language, offensive behaviour and resisting arrest, which the Royal Commission found to be so prevalent amongst the criminal histories of Indigenous men held in custody – particularly amongst those whose deaths were investigated. The Royal Commission noted that it was the early formation of such histories that formed the basis for high levels of future imprisonment.[10]

In this respect it is important to note that the processing of Indigenous male juvenile offenders in Victoria rose dramatically over the period: a rise of 30 per cent, from 695 to 900 in 1996/97, compared to a rise of 10.8 per cent for non-Indigenous male juveniles. As Gardiner and Mackay previously reported, Indigenous juveniles in Victoria are twice as likely to be arrested, rather than cautioned, than non-Indigenous juveniles.[11]

Indigenous Arrest Rates & Over-Representation Ratios: Total

There are dramatic disparities between the arrest rates for Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations in Victoria. The arrest rate (the rate of alleged offenders processed) for all offences in 1993/94 was over 137 per 1,000 of the Indigenous population for the whole state, whilst the rate for the non-Indigenous population was just over 27 per 1,000. This means that in this period Indigenous people in Victoria were 5.1 times more likely than non-Indigenous people to have been processed as an alleged offender for an offence.

By 1996/97, the arrest rate for Indigenous people in Victoria had grown to a rate of 156 per 1,000, while the figure for non-Indigenous arrests grew to over 30 per 1,000 in the same period. There was virtually no change in the over-representation ratio for Indigenous people in Victoria. In 1996/97 Indigenous people were 5.2 times more likely than non-Indigenous people to have been processed for an offence.

Indigenous Male Adult Arrest Rates

The arrest rates for Indigenous males in Victoria soared in the 1990s. However it is the rates of arrest pertaining to Indigenous male adults that are the most alarming. In 1996/97, the rate of Indigenous male adult alleged offenders processed for all offences was a staggering 330 per 1,000 Indigenous men, compared to a rate of just 52 per 1,000 for non-Indigenous male adults. In terms of over-representation, Indigenous men were therefore 6.4 times more likely than non-Indigenous men to be processed for an offence.

The arrest rate per 1,000 of Indigenous men climbed from 277 per 1,000 in 1993/94, while the arrest rate for non-Indigenous men had risen from 45 per 1,000. In other words, by 1996/97 Indigenous male adult contact with the Victoria Police in terms of alleged offenders processed was averaging approximately one in three of the population. This clearly contradicts the Victorian government’s claims in relation to its implementation of the recommendations of the Royal Commission.

Table 1 reveals that the rate of arrest for Indigenous male adults is alarming in a host of categories, with some dramatic increases between 1993/94 and 1996/97.

Under ‘crime against the person’, by 1996/97 Indigenous male adults were being processed for ‘assault offences’ (both indictable and summary) at a rate of over 30 per 1,000 of the Indigenous male population. Within ‘crime against property’, there are four crime categories with arrest rates exceeding 20 per 1,000 population. However, the highest rate of arrest occurs within ‘other crime’. Under this class, the rate of Indigenous male adult alleged offenders processed for the category of ‘other summary offences’ stands at 58 per 1,000 population, compared to a rate for non-Indigenous male adults of 8 per 1,000 population. The greatest number of Indigenous alleged offenders were processed under this category in 1996/97, with the highest arrest rate. Indigenous men are 7 times more likely to be processed for offences in this category than non-Indigenous men in Victoria.

It is important to note that all Indigenous groups by age and gender were over-represented in relation to arrests. In 1996/97, Indigenous male juveniles were 4.6 times more likely than their non-Indigenous counterparts to have been arrested for an offence, while for Indigenous juvenile females the figure was 3.5 times. Indigenous adult women in Victoria were 4.9 times more likely than non-Indigenous women to have been arrested for an offence.[12]

By the close of the period, Indigenous men were being processed by Victoria Police at a rate of 330 per 1,000 of the Indigenous male population. In anyone’s terms this is a truly extraordinary figure. If the rest of the adult male population of Victoria were to be arrested at this rate, Victoria’s prisons would be overflowing, the court system choked and police resources stretched to breaking point. For a first world wealthy economy such as Victoria it is intolerable that the financial and political resources needed to halt this explosion in arrests apparently cannot be found. As the study indicates, there are dramatic disparities between the arrest rates for Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations in Victoria. These are particularly acute in relation to Indigenous adult men, but also for Indigenous women, who are over-represented in contact with Victoria Police at an alarming level. Bearing in mind that the data presented here does not include figures on arrests for drunkenness (currently averaging over 1,000 arrests per annum, 85 per cent of which are Indigenous males), it is clear that the entire Indigenous community of Victoria carries the burden and effect of such high levels of arrest. These results challenge the state’s reputation and commitment to fundamental human rights, and seriously question policing (or over-policing) practices in relation to Indigenous communities in Victoria. They indicate that this jurisdiction’s treatment of Indigenous people may well place the country in breach of international treaty obligations to which Australia is signatory.

The present study shows that the primary conditions which lay at the heart of the Royal Commission’s investigations still exist in Victoria. The numbers of alleged offenders processed are rising, disparities in processing continue to persist, and over-representation of Indigenous peoples in contact with police in comparison with the rest of the community is vast. The challenge of implementation in this state remains undiminished.

Table 1 Rates of arrest per 1000 population (male adult), 1996/97
	Indigenous	non-Indigenous	Over-representation
RAPE	1.74	0.25	7.0
SEX OFFENCES	2.53	1.45	1.8
ROBBERY	7.13	0.47	15.3
ASSAULT (INDICTABLE)	30.10	3.06	9.8
ASSAULT (SUMMARY)	35.96	3.49	10.3
ABDUCTION/KIDNAP	1.74	0.12	14.0
*CRIME AGAINST THE PERSON*	*80.01*	*8.91*	*9.0*

ARSON	0.32	0.16	2.0
CRIMINAL DAMAGE	22.97	2.89	7.9
BURGLARY (AGG)	2.53	0.14	18.4
BURGLARY (RES)	32.95	2.95	11.2
BURGLARY (OTHER)	19.33	2.50	7.7
DECEPTION	7.76	5.33	1.5
HANDLE STOLEN GOODS	7.13	1.98	3.6
THEFT FROM M/CAR	21.39	2.15	9.9
THEFT (SHOPSTEAL)	9.82	2.84	3.5
THEFT OF M/CAR	24.40	2.31	10.5
THEFT (BICYCLE)	0.79	0.20	3.9
THEFT (OTHER)	16.79	3.71	4.5
*CRIME AGAINST PROPERTY*	*166.19*	*27.18*	*6.1*

DRUGS (CULT/MAN/TRAF)	3.80	2.04	1.9
DRUGS (POSS/USE)	16.16	4.26	3.8
OTHER INDICTABLE	5.07	0.77	6.6
OTHER SUMMARY	58.46	8.34	7.0
*OTHER CRIME*	*83.49*	*15.41*	*5.4*

[1] Australian Institute of Criminology, Trends and Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice No. 153, Australian Deaths in Custody and Custody-related Police Operations 1999 by V Dalton; Australian Bureau of Statistics, National Correctional Statistics: Prisons – March 2000 (2000).

[2] See Australian Bureau of Statistics, Experimental Estimates of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Population, 30 June 1991 – 30 June 1996, Cat. no. 3230.0 (1998); and Australian Bureau of Statistics Population by Age and Sex, June 1992 to June 1997, Cat. no. 3201.0 (1997).

[3] Extracted from the Victoria Police LEAP database. Penalty notices and traffic offences are not included on LEAP nor are arrests for drunkenness. Arrests of Aborigines for drunkenness are recorded on a separate database. Victoria Police condense over 1,500 offences into 23 offence categories, grouped into three general classes: crime against the person; crime against property; other crime.

[4] Alleged offenders ‘[r]efers to persons who have allegedly committed a criminal offence and have been processed for that offence by either arrest, summons, caution or warrant of apprehension’. Victoria Police, Victoria Police Crime Statistics 1996/97 (1997) 6.

[5] ‘Arrest’ rates refer to the recorded number of alleged offenders processed of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Victoria per 1,000 population of, respectively, Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations, based on data produced from the 1996 Census.

A ratio of over-representation was calculated by dividing the arrest rate (alleged offenders processed) per 1,000 of the Indigenous population by the arrest rate (alleged offenders processed) per 1,000 of the non-Indigenous population.

[6] In the period, and according to Victoria Police, the racial appearance of any offender or victim is ‘...based on the subjective assessment of the attending police’, Victoria Police, above n 4, 7. (Since November 1997, Police have been instructed to ask interviewees: ‘Are you of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent?’).

[7] Bearing in mind the fact that only the most serious offence is counted on a given occasion that an offender is processed.

[8] G Gardiner, ‘Indigenous Men and Criminal Justice: Arrest and over-representation for arrests in Victoria, 1996/97’ 21 Koorie Research Centre Discussion Paper 10 (1998).

[9] Eg, under the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights Articles 2(1), 9 and 14; & the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination Articles 1, 2, and 5.

[10] See E Johnston (ed) Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody: National Report Vol 2 (1991) 275-82.

[11] G Gardiner & M Mackay, ‘Arresting Koories: A Review of Victoria Police Statistics 1995/96’ Koorie Research Centre Research Paper (1997).

[12] See G Gardiner, ‘Indigenous People and Criminal Justice in Victoria: Alleged offenders, rates of arrest and over-representation in the 1990s’ Criminal Justice Monograph, Centre for Australian Indigenous Studies (2001).

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