Crime Facts Info

No. 9: Ninety-one deaths in custody in 2000

ISSN 1445-7288
9 October 2001

A report released by the Australian Institute of Criminology, "Australian Deaths in Custody and Custody-related Police Operations, 2000", states that during 2000 there was a total of 91 deaths in all forms of custody in Australia. In 1999 there were 85 custodial deaths. In 2000 the majority of deaths occurred in prison custody with 64 deaths. Two deaths occurred in juvenile detention during this time. There was a total of 17 Indigenous deaths in custody in the year 2000-11 of those deaths occurred in prison custody, five in police custody and one death in a juvenile detention centre. There were 25 police custody deaths, 17 of which occurred during the course of custody-related police operations and eight occurred in "close police custody" - the lowest figure recorded in over 10 years. This reduction was primarily driven by the fall in the number of deaths that occurred in police "institutional" custody (i.e. deaths in police stations, lockups or police vehicles). Data are from the AIC’s National Deaths in Custody Program (NDICP), which was established in 1992. The NDICP records information on all deaths that have occurred in police, prison or juvenile custody in Australia since 1980.

Australian deaths in custody, 1980-2000

Source

• Collins, L. and Mouzos, J. 2001, "Australian Deaths in Custody and Custody-related Police Operations, 2000", Trends and Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice, no. 217, Australian Institute of Criminology, Canberra.

Full report available on AIC web site: http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/tandi/tandi217.html