Indigenous justice in Australia

Community and government interventions in Indigenous justice

• Diversion
• Diversion for juvenile offenders

Diversion

Diversion may occur at the pre arrest, deferred prosecution or sentencing phase of the justice system. This process aims to reduce unnecessary social control of offenders, reduce rates of recidivism, allow the provision of services to address the underlying causes of the offending, promote cost reduction and time efficiency within the justice system, and expand and improve the options available for criminal justice decision makers.

Pre arrest diversion is generally only undertaken in relation to juvenile offenders in the format of cautions and warnings. Deferred prosecution involves the admission of guilt by the offender, after which they undertake some form of diversionary scheme (treatment, seeking restitution) and are then returned to the attention of the prosecutor who will drop the charges. This option is usually only undertaken for first time non-violent offenders. Diversion at sentence involves the offender being referred to a diversionary program for a specified period of time, and at the conclusion of this, they are referred back to the court, at which point they may either have the charges dropped, or receive penalty for a lesser matter.

Resources

• Project on conferencing and sentencing (SAJJ-CJ)
  South Australia Juvenile Justice and Criminal Justice Research Group
• Diverting Aboriginal adults from the justice system (PDF 144kB)
  New South Wales Aboriginal Justice Advisory Council and University of Sydney, Institute of Criminology. Summary of workshop outcomes, 5 October 2001
• An overview of the theory of diversion: notes for correctional policy makers
  Rick Sarre, Best practice interventions in corrections for Indigenous people conference, 1999
• Diversion and best practice for Indigenous people: a non-Indigenous view
  Chris Cunneen and David McDonald, Best practice interventions in corrections for Indigenous people conference, 1999

Diversion for juvenile offenders

Diversion from the formal criminal justice system is considered best practice for the treatment of young offenders, with the intention of minimising the likelihood of future contact with the criminal justice system. Indigenous young people are significantly more likely to be formally charged rather than diverted than non-Indigenous young offenders (See Sidoti, C 1992, The Commonwealth's responsibility for Aboriginal young offenders).

The process of diversion may take multiple forms, including:

• Verbal and/or written warnings;
• Formal cautions;
• Victim-offender conferencing;
• Family group conferencing; and/or
• Referral to formal and/or informal community programs.

Resources

• Diversion of Indigenous juvenile offenders
  Lucy Snowball, 2008. See also full report: Juvenile diversion and Indigenous offenders : a study examining juvenile offenders in Western Australia, South Australia and New South Wales
• Indigenous young people with cognitive disabilities & Australian juvenile justice systems (PDF 277kB)
  Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, 2005
• Diversion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island youth from juvenile detention (PDF 1.82MB)
  Siggins Miller Consultants in association with Catherine Spooner Consulting. Report to the Australian National Council on Drugs, 2003
• Diversion and the Indigenous community (PDF 2.1MB)
  Kenneth Polk, Christine Alder, Damon Muller and Katherine Rechtman, 2003. In Early intervention and youth conferencing : a national profile and review of current approaches to diverting juveniles from the criminal justice system
• 12-Month Review of the Commonwealth Agreement with the Northern Territory to Fund a Juvenile Pre-Court Diversion Scheme and Jointly Fund an Aboriginal Interpreter Service
  Attorney-General's Department, 2002
• Best practice principles for the diversion of juvenile offenders
  Rachel Crasnow, Chris Cunneen, Darren Dick, Susan Newell and Frith Way. 2001. HREOC Human rights brief
• Diverting ATSI young offenders from court and custody in New South Wales - practices, perspectives and possibilities under the Young Offenders Act 1997
  Jenny Bargen, Best practice interventions in corrections for Indigenous people conference, 2001
• The impact of crime prevention on Aboriginal communities
  Chris Cunneen, 2001.
• Juveniles - imprisonment and detention - easy options to complex issues - exploring socially just options and avoiding crime creation
  Liz Curran, Best practice interventions in corrections for Indigenous people conference, 2001
• Young Indigenous males, custody and the rites of passage
  Emma Ogilvie and Allan Van Zyl, 2001. The over-representation of Indigenous juveniles in the criminal justice system, police discretion, public order offending, mandatory sentencing and the value of diversionary schemes
• Youth justice conferencing in New South Wales: a personal view of the practicalities and politics of introducing the Young Offenders Act 1997 (NSW) (PDF 165kB)
  Jenny Bargen, Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology Conference, 1998
• Aboriginal youth and the South Australian juvenile justice system: has anything changed?
  Joy Wundersitz, Juvenile crime and juvenile justice: towards 2000 and beyond conference, 1997
• Detaining Aboriginal juveniles as a last resort: variations from the theme
  Lynn Atkinson, 1996