Indigenous justice in Australia

Community and government interventions in Indigenous justice

Indigenous courts

The aim of specialist Indigenous courts is to make court processes more culturally appropriate, to engender greater trust between Indigenous communities and judicial officers, and to permit a more informal and open exchange of information about defendants and their cases. Indigenous people, organisations, elders, family and kin group members are encouraged to participate in the sentencing process and to provide officials with insight into the offence, the character of victim-offender relations, and an offender's readiness to change.

The first Indigenous court to operate in Australia was at Port Adelaide in South Australia in 1999. This Nunga Court was established by the magistrate, Chris Vass, who had a long experience in the administration of western law in indigenous communities in Australia and Papua New Guinea.

Indigenous courts have been established in South Australia, Victoria and Queensland. Circle sentencing, a particular application of an Indigenous court, is discussed separately.

Resources

• The Murri Court
  Queensland Courts
• Koori Court
  Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service
• What is the Koori Court?
  Magistrates Court of Victoria
• Review of the Murri Court
  Report and summary report, Department of Justice and the Attorney-General, Queensland, 2006
• Indigenous courts and justice practices in Australia
  Elena Marchetti and Kathleen Daly, 2004
• Innovations in the court system
  Arie Freiberg, Crime in Australia : international connections conference, 2004
• Aboriginal (Nunga) Courts (PDF 483kB)
  John Tomaino, South Australia Office of Crime Statistics and Research, 2004
• Applying therapeutic jurisprudence in regional areas : the Western Australian experience
  Michael S King, E-law journal, 2003
• Introducing fairness : Aboriginal Community Sentencing Tribunals
  Michael Mansell, Best practice interventions in corrections for Indigenous people conference, 2001
• The Penalties and Sentences and Other Acts Amendment Bill 2000 : Involvement of Indigenous elders, community justice groups and community members in the sentencing of Indigenous offenders to find alternatives to incarceration (PDF 192kB)
  Cathy Green, Queensland Parliamentary Library, 2000