Cunneen, Chris --- "Framing the Crimes of Colonialism: Critical Images of Aboriginal Art and Law" [2011] UNSWLRS 1

Last Updated: 20 January 2011

Indigenous Anger and the Criminogenic Effects of the Criminal Justice System

Chris Cunneen, James Cook University, University of New South Wales

This paper is available for download at http://law.bepress.com/unswwps/flrps11/art1/

Citation

This paper was published in Day, A., Nakata, M. and K. Howells (eds) Anger and Indigenous Men, pp 37-46, Federation Press, Leichhardt, 2008.

Abstract

What I intend to argue in this chapter is simple enough: the current direction of the criminal justice system is one that could be regarded as criminogenic to the extent that it fosters and compounds Indigenous anger. Thus what I would like to achieve through the development of this argument is a deeper understanding of the way in which the criminal justice system may be part of the problem (particularly the way it is currently configured) rather than part of the solution to Indigenous anger and consequently Indigenous crime. The criminal justice system is not an ‘excuse’ for Indigenous anger, however it may well be a part of the explanation. The purpose of the chapter is to cast light on the institutional, political and historical factors connected directly to the criminal justice system that cause at least one layer of Indigenous anger.