ABORIGINAL DEATHS IN CUSTODY AND THE FIGHTBACK
Introduction
Before 1987 there had been complaints about Aboriginal people in Australia dying in their cells, and the number continued to rise in the later years. In 1987 the government took the initiative led by Bob Hawke to counter the rising number of complaints. The protests were that Aboriginal people suspiciously died in police cells under the questionable circumstance. The deaths were too common, and they had inadequate explanations; thus, public concern grew. Initially, the cases to be examined were only forty-four, but they later grew to ninety-nine with the significant states experiencing the same problems. Queen’s land had twenty-seven, Tasmanian and Victoria had eight cases, and Western Australia had twenty-one and another twenty-one in Australia’s northern and southern parts. Since the end of the Royal Commission in 1991, there have been about four hundred and thirty-four indigenous aboriginal deaths. Most aboriginal people who died in custody were acquitted as they were in remand or police cells. Aboriginal people have continuously experienced high levels of racism, injustices, and social inequality. Overrepresentation of within the criminal justice system and prisons is evidence of their inequality and discrimination. The Australian media and news bodies have played a significant role in reinforcing inequality, racism, and stereotypes. There have been specific situations that support this evidence, including the Redfern riots and the northern territory emergency response (Norman Fairclough, 2003, p.5).
Case Studies of Death in Custody
The deaths in the Aboriginal people’s custody occurred before the commission was formed and after recent times. Lloyd Boney was found hanging dead in a police cell. In 1987 in Brewarrina, which became the main reason why the Royal Commission was formed. There are two more examples, i.e., the death of Eddie Murray and John Pat. One of the recent cases claimed by a police officer fell on a victim in 2004 is Doomadgee Mulrunji.
John Pat’s Death
In Western Australia in September 1983, John Pat was involved in a fight outside the Hotel of Victoria. He was just 16 years old when police allegedly assaulted an Aboriginal person who fought back in turn, thus leading to the fight. Witnesses claimed that the policeman struck John Pat in the face and the boy fell backwards; John Pat hit his head hard on the road. Another off duty officer rushed and kicked him on the head then dragged into a waiting police van. Before being thrown in like a dead body, he was kicked severally on the head. The police drove him and other people involved in a police station Roebourne. Some of the other Aboriginal people took a week recovering from the assault of the officer; John Pat died within an hour after being locked up due to the injuries inflicted by the law. After an autopsy it was revealed that Pat had suffered swelling, tearing and bruising of the brain and also a fractured skull
. It was said that Pat sustained multiple massive heads blows. There was a bruise at the back of his head, approximately the size of a human hand.
After the incident, the police officers were taken to court with an all-white jury. The case was heard, and all the five police officers denied the violent acts that they were being accused of, stating that all actions that undertook place were done in their self-defence. Despite all evidence, including blood on a police officer’s boots, they were judges as not guilty, and no charges were laid against them. On the other hand, the Aboriginal people who had been assaulted were charged for resisting arrest and hindering the police officers. It took more than thirty years for the state to apologize to Pat’s family.
The police respond intensely and vigorously to Aboriginal people drunkenness compared to other Australians’ brutal domestic violence. Before 1987 there were twice as many police officers in Roebourne than Wickham, a white’s town.
Injustice, Inequality
Police have been most prominent in a contact point between Aboriginal indigenous people and the colonial justice system (Cunneen, 2001, p.23). Cruelty by the law has allowed in-depth insight into the current relationship between the justice system and the Aboriginal people. Colonial police in the era of dispossession involved themselves in a war against Indigenous Aboriginal Australians. Approximately two thousand non-Indigenous people were killed by Aboriginal people between 1788 and the early 20th century. In Australia’s dispossession period, the police justice system and the government took the initiative to repress Aboriginal aggressively. The takeover of land was the first instance of the police and the Aboriginal people. The government was serious about the eradication of tribal groups. Usually referred to as the war of extermination (Reynolds 1987, p.15), the colonial takeover was enacted by the police who were used as a military force. It became a legal fiction that the colonization of Australia was a peaceful means of settlement. In reality, police enforcement brought up many accounts of the massacre with an example of Pinjarra’s battle, where at least thirty indigenous Australians were killed, including a woman and children.
Failure of Government to follow instructions
High prison death rates do not a surprise because the government failed to follow the Royal Commission’s recommendation. A dismissal assessment of the progress of deaths was offered in 1996 after ninety-six Aboriginal people’s deaths. All states and territories claimed that they had implemented the recommendations provided, yet the death toll continued to rise, creating a critical problem. All the states contended that the imprisonment principles’ advice was either implemented or was in the last stages of being implemented, but this wasn’t to be the case. An Australian Law review on indigenous people in 2009 proved that only a fraction of the recommendations had been adopted, with the highest being South Australia with 52%. The other state’s fraction of implementation was 41% Tasmanian, 50% Western Australia, and 27% Victoria. There is still a large portion of the recommendations that the states remain unimplemented or have been only partially implemented. In 2014 the Australian Northern state introduced a form of arrest, which was paperless. In this paperless arrest, officers have been given the power to arrest and jail a victim for four hours with no charge or warrant. It has been reported that an Aboriginal person who has been apprehended first has to run through the trouble of first being placed in police custody then they are placed in custodial transport. Lastly, they end up in prison without any reason whatsoever. Aboriginal deaths have drastically increased from the time the Royal Commission was set up to look into the deaths of Aboriginal in Custody. Statistically, it is imperative to place the Aboriginal deaths concerning the number of charges and suspects in prison. Studies also show that Aboriginal prisoners even die from natural causes at young ages; this shows the lower life expectancy and poor Aboriginal people’s health conditions.
Efficiency and equity issues
Currently, only one per cent of the commonwealth outlays are allocated to special programs for aboriginal Australians. Data on the census indicates the disadvantage of Aboriginal people as compared to the other Australians. It is becoming recognized that significant and extensive social justice and equity issues between Australians and other indigenous Australians can be argued. A broad consideration of the social justice that enacted the Royal Commission’s recommendations is an accurate presentation of indigenous Australians’ socio-economic situation, which will result in a more urgent focus to address underlying issues. Broad issues of equity are usually two-sided. It can be argued that expenditure on special Aboriginal people’s education programs can be cut back significantly based on equity grounds; this is because initial policy aims have been achieved to a higher percentage. Furthermore, it can be argued that in some contexts, the mainstream provisioning service might be more elaborate and much more useful than an exceptional Aboriginal provisioning service.
Conclusion
It is recommended that all states should take up the mantle to push to implement all the recommendations set out by the Royal Commission if there is to be equity and justice. The Aboriginal people have suffered through time. It is time for the Aboriginal to be treated as equals and part of the Australian state.