Executive summary

Nowadays, Aboriginal youth in Australia are imprisoned at an alarming rate; therefore, social justice is a problem that renders a high rate of incarceration.  Aboriginal youths, nonetheless, are confined in detention centres in higher numbers than their population rate in the community. This difference requires new approaches to work on eradicating the social and economic vulnerabilities thereby changing the existing political system to ensure that the justice system ceases imprisoning Americans at exorbitant rates because of other forms of prejudices such as discrimination and genocide that prevailed in the past. Strategies include using culturally competent community programmes, education and employment, justice system reform and comprehensive family and community treatment that helps to lower the rate of incarceration among people belonging to the Aboriginal community. 

Purpose

The rationale for writing this briefing paper is to draw the attention of the State government to the disturbing factor of high incarceration rates of Aboriginal youths. The problem is a result of socio-economic risks, prejudice in the criminal justice system, and colonial impact (Kong, 2024). By not addressing these causes, inequality is maintained and there are large social costs which include cyclical socio-economic and criminogenic disadvantages amongst the Aboriginal population. The people need to take prompt appropriate action to make society equal for all. 

Here is the evaluation of the possible causes that can explain the high rate of imprisonment of young Aboriginal people to replenish the incarceration rate (Nakata & Bray, 2023). Various factors have been identified as having caused the imprisonment of many Aboriginal youths in Australia due to incarceration. These factors are socio-economic disadvantages, discrimination within the criminal justice system, colonization and its ramifications, and the confined means to education and roles in the workforce. 

Critical analysis 

Numerous factors are interconnected and render the consequences of challenging situations for people belonging to Aboriginal communities. Social-economic disparities, inequality in proper access to education and healthcare, devoid of cultural competence and certain traumas due to colonisation tremendously affect the psychology of people belonging to aboriginal communities leading to the high rate of incarceration. The facets behind the issues are summarised below to exemplify the reason behind the consequences of incarceration among Aboriginal people and possible ways to mitigate such worse consequences (Leigh, 2020). Modern Method of

Teaching and Some of Its Flaws require to be taken under prior consideration. The implication of policies also plays an important role that helps in mitigating the occurrence of heinous crimes committed by the Aboriginal peoples by implementing "Youth Justice Act 1992" and "Closing the Gap," like policies.  A brief outline of the current policy overview and its need to incorporate for social perspective are enumerated as follows to make the offence elimination from the grassroots of society and the need for the adoption of rehabilitation opportunities to minimize the occurrence of crime done by aboriginal peoples. 

Current Policy Overview: That is why, the fact remains that this policy context defines retribution and punishment as the key ways of coping with Aboriginal youths, at the same time, much emphasis is placed on causes that compel Aboriginal youths to turn to crime (Schiraldi, 2020). That may include "Youth Justice Act 1992" and "Closing the Gap," sentencing legislation, the absence of diversion options within the criminal code, and rehabilitation opportunities which are insensitive and created specifically for natives or Aboriginals. 

Strengths of the policy guidelines:  

This minimizes the chances of such offences being committed in society again by eliminating the offenders. Taking strict action and policy approach helps to tackle the situation and bring the situation under control by eliminating the offences from society mainly in case of incarceration among the aboriginal people's communities (Mitchell, 2023). 
This provides an insight into a specific legal policy concerning the manners of dealing with juvenile offences. Tackling juvenile offences and activities of heinous crime prevention to some extent is dependent upon the role of the legal policy framework to root out its disastrous consequences at the very beginning. 

Limitations of policy implications: 

Systemic Bias and Discrimination: Unfortunately, it is well noted that Aboriginals have racist profiling throughout the criminal justice system starting from the force encounter and during the trial. This leads to increased rates of arrests, as well as graver penalties for similar misdeeds among young persons of non-indigenous origin (Mitchell, 2023). 

• Socio-Economic Disadvantages: Crimes resulting from socio-economic factors are not well handled by policies as the latter does not recognize aspects like poverty, unemployment and illiteracy among perpetrators of the crime (Mitchell, 2023). 

• Lack of Cultural Competence: Cultural ignorance is rife in the criminal justice system; thus, the practices conducted are against the Aboriginal community’s cultural norms, which further solidify the marginalization and exclusion suffered by the Aboriginal people. 

Critically evaluate the reason behind the high incarceration rate

Nevertheless, it is crucial to understand the reason behind the increase in the rate of incarceration by Aboriginal people which is equipped with multifaceted parameters or factors that positively influence the consequences. The reasons behind the occurrences of elevated rates of incarceration are enumerated or summarised as follows. 
 


Figure 1: causes behind the high rate of incarceration 
(Source: Kong, 2024)

Socio-Economic Inequalities 

• Poverty and Unemployment: Poverty and high unemployment remain an issue common among the Aboriginal people as compared with other people in the society (Abrams, Mizel & Barnert, 2021). The above economic challenges might precipitate increased rates of criminality because people might turn to crime to meet their needs.

• Inadequate Access to Education and Healthcare: Poverty is a big issue especially when there is a need to obtain quality education and health care because the above goals are more of a challenge when socio-economic problems are present. Persistent early school dropouts are known to result in low literacy and numerical skills among learners in one way or another (Abrams, Mizel & Barnert, 2021). Other predisposes them to being jobless or being involved in criminal activities. Similarly, absence, or inadequate, medical, including mental, health guarantees that persons suffer from untreated diseases and behave in ways that get them imprisoned. 

Analysing the facet of Racism in the Criminal Justice System 

• Racial Profiling and Discrimination: The following analysis strongly indicates why Aboriginal youths are detained more and how racism and prejudice in the criminal justice system work hand in hand: Compared to their counterparts, Aboriginal youths in Australia are profiled and thus, are stopped, searched and arrested by policemen. This eventually leads to higher odds of apprehending a black person and entrapping him/her in the criminal justice system (Simpson, Steil & Mehta, 2020). 

• Harsher Sentencing: This research also confirmed that Aboriginal youth is treated differently in as much as the type of punishment for a given case is concerned as they are detained for a longer time than their counterparts who are non-aboriginal. Such an outcome may be due to the racism and prejudice that some judicial officers may hold or a general failure to consider a background that is beneficial to the Aboriginal people. 

• Lack of Cultural Competence: Police force and judiciary personnel are also observed to be unequal suggesting they have no proper insight regarding culture to embrace aboriginality.

• Trauma due to the harsh impact of colonisation: Colonisation leads to forced removals of children from their communities rendering social trauma and psychological distress (Battams et al., 2021). This traumatisation event passed from one generation to the next causing behavioural consequences to aggravate the rate of incarceration consequences that prevailed among the Aboriginal youths. 

• Social exclusion and the underlying impact of marginalization: Social exclusion leads to deviation of aboriginal people from the mainstream renders mistrust among people in a societal context and proportionally increases the rate of incarceration.

• Substance abuse: The social consequences of substance abuse also gain tremendous relevance due to the deterioration of ethics and responsibility among Aboriginal community members due to social and economic disparities (Simpson, Steil & Mehta, 2020). Substance abuse is coherently linked with criminal activities and as a matter of consequence leads to a high rate of incarceration. 

• Dysfunctional family: The absence of role models among family members, proper guidance, violent activities and internal commotion among family members due to dysfunctional families is a reason behind the increase in the rate of incarceration (Simpson, Steil & Mehta, 2020). Dysfunction families are unable to give mental support to the people and rendering mental or psychological stress at an alarming rate becomes a reason for high incarceration among aboriginal communities. 

• Limited opportunity for employability: Limited scope for employability and job opportunities distract people and deviate their motive into a negative turn that causes a deviation of their approach from mainstream making them vulnerable to society that is positively correlated with a high rate of incarceration among aboriginal communities. 

Inadequacy of Policies

Laws such as the “Youth Justice Act 1992” and policies like Closing the Gap are insufficient because of their inability to bring out change that combats racism and socio-economic evils that plague Aboriginals (Battams et al., 2021). Most of these policies are highly retributive, lack cultural sensitivity, and fail to address the drivers of criminality including; poverty, unemployment, lack of education, and inadequate health care. Instead, they continue to provide that cycle of incarceration back and not actual solutions to people’s problems.

Stakeholders' Implications

Varying players contribute to the fact of high incarceration rates among Aboriginal youths. Discriminatory policies and justice system of the government inflict punishment on Aboriginal people illegally. Racial profiling and severe punishment are supported by the legal bodies, including law enforcement. Lack of support from educational institutions compels children out of school and thus dropping out rates are high and focusing on "Northern Territory National Emergency Response," is useful for aboriginal peoples (Simpson, Steil & Mehta, 2020). Indeed, many services in the social work practice do not have culturally relevant practices. This has created social and economic costs linked with crime and imprisonment to communities and families. Non-governmental organizations often go out for change but they are challenged by systems. All these stakeholders have to ensure that they make the changes that are necessary for solving the root causes collectively.

Recommendation

Numerous ways will seem helpful and bring high incarceration among Aboriginal communities into control including the intervention based on community engagement and arranging proper rehabilitation programs among people belonging to cultural communities. Moreover, the educational access and employment opportunities being the Aboriginal people in the mainstream help to lower the heinous crimes by these people and the rate of incarceration to a considerably low extent (O'Brien & Trudgett, 2020). Giving vocational training opportunities also seems beneficial and helps to curtail the issues among Aboriginal people considering the high rate of incarceration. 

Community-Based Interventions 

• Culturally Appropriate Rehabilitation Programs: This will only be possible if the recommended counselling and other rehabilitation processes which acknowledge a sensibility to the type of culture and requirements in the community will sufficiently decrease the number of recidivism (Zuchowski et al, 2022). They should be developed and managed by the Aboriginal members, and under no circumstances undermine indigenous peoples’ rights and epistemology. 

• Diversion Programs: Ensuring that the necessary and adequate diversion programmes centres that the Aboriginal youth can be given non-custodial sentences for minor offences will also greatly help in removing the Aboriginal youths away from the criminal justice system. These programs include the following; community service, counselling and education programs concerning Aboriginal young people. 

• Restorative Justice: The one that deals with prevention as well as the ways of making amends rather than punishment is the practical action of restorative justice, which is useful among them. Such practices include; situations where; the victim and offender and the community as the members are participating in a process which has restoration as its aim. 

• Improving Educational Access and Outcomes: Public mandatory education for more Aboriginal youth, therefore, entails the funding of education that will be consequential to the improvement of the Aboriginal student (Hamilton et al., 2020).This includes scholarships, training, and the provision of good culturally appropriate reading materials for the Aboriginal kids. Educating the young aspiring minds specifically those belonging to the Aboriginal community is needful and helps to bring the Aboriginal people into the social mainstream and help in educating them properly or appropriately. 

• Vocational Training and Employment Opportunities: Vocational Training and Employment are caring significant relevance in the context of handing the incarceration among aboriginal peoples. Training and sensitization on employment services are likely to assist the Aboriginal youth in affording suitable employment (Doyle et al., 2020). Random jobs, businesses and economic development transform into a tool through which society can generate employment and income to help eradicate the vices of more people embracing criminality.

• Taking alternative options for sentencing: Expanding the measures like rehabilitation programs, probation and community programs will help to reduce the rate of incarceration among people those are belonging to the aboriginal groups and communities (Cunneen, 2020). This alternative approach seems an effective and appropriate one that helps to navigate the issues with deliberation and causes relatively lower instances of incarceration among people those are belonging to the Aboriginal groups and communities (Hamilton et al., 2020).

• Maintaining legal transparency: Maintaining fairness and transparency in the legal approach is crucial it gives Aboriginal people equal rights and legal support that help to mitigate the cause of crime proportionally. 

• Need for policy reframing: Maintaining a framework of policy by collecting data on Aboriginal people helps to address the potential areas for intervention and trends analysis (Doyle et al., 2020). Giving more appropriate solutions are key aim for policy deployment that helps to tackle the issues of hostilities or misunderstanding about policy norms with deliberation. 

• Unwavering support from family members: Tackling the situation needs financial support, mental health monitoring and parenting support that helps to lower the consequences of criminal offense associated with a high rate of incarceration specifically for aboriginal youth or community members. 

Conclusion     

Aboriginal youth are incarcerated at very high rates mainly due to socio-economic and prejudiced discriminative treatment by the justice system due to the effect of colonization and lack of education employment. For these problems to be solved, health interventions have to address the symptomatic as well as the ‘deeper’ levels to promote the growth of a just society.

This study also gives a discussion on policy influences and their underlying strengths and limitations to tackle the social curse of incarceration among the people belonging to Aboriginal communities. This Briefing paper also deciphers the root cause of incarceration among the people belonging to Aboriginal communities and the possible approach of mitigation tactics or recommendations to tackle its consequences are covered in the entire briefing humanities assignment paper.  

 

Top Humanities Samples

Reference list

 Abrams, L. S., Mizel, M. L., & Barnert, E. S. (2021). The criminalization of young children and overrepresentation of black youth in the juvenile justice system. Race and social problems, 13, 73-84. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011128719839356
Battams, S., Delany-Crowe, T., Fisher, M., Wright, L., McGreevy, M., McDermott, D., & Baum, F. (2021). Reducing incarceration rates in Australia through primary, secondary, and tertiary crime prevention. Criminal justice policy review, 32(6), 618-645. https://doi.org/10.1177/0887403420979178
Cunneen, C. (2020). Youth justice and racialization: Comparative reflections. Theoretical Criminology, 24(3), 521-539. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362480619889039
Doyle, M. F., Guthrie, J., Butler, T., Shakeshaft, A., Conigrave, K., & Williams, M. (2020). Onset and trajectory of alcohol and other drug use among Aboriginal men entering a prison treatment program: A qualitative study. Drug and alcohol review, 39(6), 704-712. https://doi.org/10.1111/dar.13123
Hamilton, S. L., Maslen, S., Best, D., Freeman, J., O'Donnell, M., Reibel, T., ... & Watkins, R. (2020). Putting'justice'in recovery capital: Yarning about hopes and futures with young people in detention. International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy, 9(2), 20-36. https://search.informit.org/doi/pdf/10.3316/informit.171423354201892
Kong, C. (2024). Disproportionate Incarceration Rates of Indigenous Australians: A Human Rights Violation. International Journal of High School Research, 6(4). DOI: 10.36838/v6i4.15
Leigh, A. (2020). The second convict age: Explaining the return of mass imprisonment in Australia. Economic Record, 96(313), 187-208. https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-4932.12536
Mitchell, M. (2023). Reducing the Overrepresentation of Indigenous Peoples in Canadian Prisons: Bail and the Promise of Gladue Courts (Doctoral dissertation, Université d'Ottawa/University of Ottawa). http://dx.doi.org/10.20381/ruor-29969
Nakata, S., & Bray, D. (2023). Political Representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Youth in Australia. The Politics of Children’s Rights and Representation, 301. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04480-9
O'Brien, G., & Trudgett, M. (2020). School house to big house. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 49(1), 98-106. https://doi.org/10.1017/jie.2018.13
Schiraldi, V. N. (2020). Can we eliminate the youth prison?(And what should we replace it with?). https://academiccommons.columbia.edu/doi/10.7916/d8-621e-2e75/download
Simpson, S. A., Steil, J., & Mehta, A. (2020). Planning beyond mass incarceration. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 40(2), 130-138. https://doi.org/10.1177/0739456X20915505
Zuchowski, I., Braidwood, L., d’Emden, C., Gair, S., Heyeres, M., Nicholls, L., ... & O’Reilly, S. (2022). The voices of “At Risk” young people about services they received: A systematic literature review. Australian Social Work, 75(1), 76-95. https://doi.org/10.1080/0312407X.2020.1776742