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Aboriginal justice systems
Aboriginal justice systems
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The following essay will aim to address several issues in regards to the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (RCIADIC). The first issue of focus will identify how the RCIADIC links policies and practices of colonisation to Aboriginal people’s deaths in custody. Such policies and practices includes segregation, protection and assimilation. This will be followed by identifying how the RCIADIC recommends that relations between First Australians and police could be improved before discussing one such recommendations effectiveness of implementation in New South Wales. Segregation, protection and assimilation are all policies that have been linked to Aboriginal people’s deaths while in custody.
The Howard government’s policy of “practical reconciliation” has been a failure on two substantial levels which resulted in failing to benefit Indigenous Aboriginals. First the policy ignores the significance of “symbolic reconciliation” which provides justice to Indigenous people. Second, the policy, although set out to improve the socio economic disadvantage experienced by Indigenous Australians, did not actually succeed. The election of John Howard’s government in 1996 marked the beginning of a discursive shift away from the view of social justice which has been a target pursued by the Council of Aboriginal Reconciliation and supported by the previous Labor government. The new Howard government refused to accept the approach of previous
No person should be tricked into complying with society, however such actions demonstrate the actions of Australians during a dark time in history. However, from these wrongfully actions, Australia’s national culture has been centered around reconciliation. As a country, Australians stand sombre in
The aboriginal people did not get what they deserved; they got the shorter end of the stick. They were killed by the plague and the ones that survived were
Although Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander customary laws are shown to be harsh, even brutal at times, Australian law has changed to integrate this cultural heritage. Although uncommon, customary law has been applied in legal rulings, as seen in cases involving Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people (Colin Goodsell v Galarrwuy Yunupingu). Traditional punishments such as payback have also been recognised by some Australian courts (The Queen v Wilson Jagamara Walker).[1] Furthermore, in some cases defence lawyers have specifically asked for their clients to be released on bail to face punishment under customary law.
One of the most significant events in Aboriginal peoples struggle for rights in Australia was the Mabo decision in 1992. This event took away the myth of terra nullius from Australian law and would recognise rights that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have to the land and waters according to tradition. Thus, creating way for the legal recognition of native land titles (Loos & Mabo, 2013). This essay will explain the impact of the Mabo decision, what events led to this event and what impact this has on Australian people today.
The main principles of the Australian Legal System are fairness, equality before the law and justice. The constitution provides a structure that outlines separation and division of powers, defining the powers exercised by the government bodies. This is demonstrated through the constitution defining acceptable and unacceptable conduct which outlines expectations for the Australian public, enabling social cohesion and upholding rule of law. The Australian Legal System is based on legal and social principles ensuring laws are democratically enforced and free from arbitrary exercise of power. The Australian Legal System establishes laws promoting social cohesion and enabling social progress within our multicultural society.
Today Australia prides itself on being a place of fairness and equity for all its citizens. But the Australian Constitution still does not recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians as the first people of this land. Importantly, we now know that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their cultures form part of the longest culture on Earth and evidence of their presence in Australia is now dated back over 60,000 years. It is only right that modern Australia should recognise and acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and culture - past and present - in our Constitution to record their valued place as part of this country and our national identity. Most of the states - Victoria, Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia have already amended their Constitutions to formally recognise Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Australians as the first people and nations of their jurisdictions.
Throughout Australia’s post settlement history a blind eye, or rather more of a blindfold, has been turned by ordinary Australia’s towards the indigenous population. The original inhabitants of this country have suffered through the injustices of being dislocated from their own land, not just when the ‘invaders’
Protection and segregation is the policy targeting to indigenous people within around 1890s to 1950s, it is ‘a policy of despair. ’(Hasluck, 1953). In this period of time, Indigenous people are suffering from the beginning and formal institutional racism in the society. The aim of policy are so called protecting and assisting indigenous people by segregate them. In late eighteenth century, ideology of people who are more ‘primeval’ will eventually extinct as the development traced by the European was dominant in Australia society.
Aboriginal women and domestic violence has a strong correlation. When comparing the extent and severity of violence against Aboriginal women and non-Aboriginal women there is evidence proving that the Aboriginal women have a great chance of facing domestic violence during the duration of their lifespan in comparison to the non-Aboriginal
Assimilation, in context of post 1788 Australia, refers to the forced breeding and other integration processes that were used to attempt to slowly remove Aboriginal people from Australia (Partington, 1998). Assimilation followed the protection era – a time at which legislation was introduced to ‘protect’ Indigenous individuals; a pretext under which the government were able to control and exert power over the Aboriginal population. From these acts stemmed assimilation policies on the other hand were aimed at the younger generation of the Aboriginal population as they were seen more fit and able to fully integrate into post-settlement Australia (Gibson, 2015). This notion meant that many, if not most Aboriginal children were forcefully taken
A large majority of Australians have been presented with a version of Australian history that has minimised and ignored important events regarding Aboriginal people that include many violent and painful deaths that until recently have been hidden quietly. History is extremely important in forming cultural identity which in turn leads to an increased sense of security and belonging. Therefore a need for shared history is required in Australia for recognising the history of both Aboriginal and non-aboriginal people (Gore, 2008). When studying the history of Australia it is important to recognise that it is a shared history. The shared history of Australia acknowledges that the history of Australia began long before the British started to
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have resided in Australia for at least 60,000 years with an extraordinary relationship to the land and sea; Land rights were formed by a complex social process constructed on traditional values where the rights of the land were hereditary, established on principles of decedents, kinship and marriage (Dodds, 1998).
ALRM (aboriginal legal rights movement) ALRM is a South Australian legal rights organization designed to assist and protect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and is controlled and ran by the Aboriginal community . ALRM’s main focus is to advance the legal interest of Aboriginal people in South Australia particularly those who are in custody and unsure that those rights are being enforced and not being misused or abused under the law . ALRM provide many services and programs in a verity of areas including the following: -AVS (aboriginal visitors scheme) is a program that involves qualified visitors supporting aboriginal people in police custody. The visitor’s attend police cells and assist officers in their duty of care by personally