National Indigenous Violence and Child Abuse Intelligence Task Force

The Task Force

The AIC is a participant in the National Indigenous Violence and Child Abuse Intelligence Task Force which is led by the Australian Crime Commission. The initiative is resourced by the Commonwealth, states and territories and will see involvement from the Australian Federal Police , state and territory police forces and other agencies.

The objectives of the National Indigenous Violence and Child Abuse Intelligence Task Force include:

• Improving the national coordination of the collection and sharing of information and intelligence on violence and child abuse in remote and urban Indigenous communities.
• Enhancing the national understanding of the nature and extent of violence and child abuse in remote and urban Indigenous communities.
• Providing intelligence and other advice to relevant Commonwealth, state and territory organisations on violence and child abuse in remote and urban Indigenous communities, including organised criminal involvement in drugs, alcohol, pornography and fraud.
• Conducting research into the impact of improved intelligence and information coordination and into the identification of good practice in the prevention, detection and responses to violence and child abuse in Indigenous communities.

Task force press releases

• Expert appointed to the National Indigenous Violence and Child Abuse Intelligence Task Force (8 Nov 2006) (PDF 38kB)
• National Indigenous Violence and Child Abuse Intelligence Task Force (17 Jul 2006) (Word 317kB)
• National Indigenous Violence and Child Abuse Intelligence Task Force (14 Jul 2006)

Key information, research and data

• AIC activities
• Core data collections
• Other key information

The Australian Institute of Criminology maintains a comprehensive set of resource materials related to Indigenous justice on this website. The following resources have been selected as particularly relevant to the objectives of the task force.

AIC activities

The AIC is Australia's pre-eminent national crime and criminal justice research agency. The Institute plays an important role conducting timely and proactive research on crime and criminology, and disseminating information to provide a unique knowledge base from which to inform policy. As well as publishing significant research findings in the field of Indigenous justice, the AIC also undertakes research projects as well as convening conferences and seminars.

Research projects

The objective of Research Services is to conduct research on the extent, nature and prevention of crime in Australia in order to provide timely, policy-relevant advice to the Australian Government and other key clients. The following projects are directly relevant to the task force.

• Reintegrating Indigenous offenders : recidivism among Indigenous Australians who have been imprisoned.
• Research into the policing implications of illicit drug use in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities
• Drug Use Careers of Offenders (DUCO) : a study of drug use amongst incarcerated offenders with comparable Indigenous data.

Monitoring programs

The following programs have accumulated significant information and associated data analysis of interest to the task force.

• National Deaths in Custody Program (NDICP) contains a dataset spanning 25 years with details of every death occurring in prison custody, police custody and custody-related operations, and in juvenile detention facilities across Australia.
• Drug Use Monitoring in Australia (DUMA). This project seeks to measure drug use among those people who have been recently apprehended by police. Data from DUMA includes Indigenous substance abuse and it's relationship to violent crime.
• National Homicide Monitoring Program (NHMP). This program has been in operation since 1989 and identifies the characteristics of individuals which place them at risk of homicide victimisation and of offending and the circumstances which contribute to the likelihood of a homicide occurring. The program includes comparative studies between Indigenous and non-indigenous homicide.
• National Police Custody Survey involves the conduct and analysis of the National Police Custody Survey in August 2002.

Conferences

• Family violence, drug and alcohol use in remote communities. Crowne Plaza Hotel, Darwin 18 August 2006

Online resources

• The Indigenous justice clearinghouse provides a single entry point to access key information about Indigenous justice issues in Australia. The website includes an online forum, a register of Indigenous justice resources and concise research briefs.
• Topics This extensive section of the AIC website brings together relevant, quality information on Indigenous people and the criminal justice system in Australia.

Core data collections

The AIC:

The AIC holds a significant amount of valuable data on Indigenous violence and child abuse, including : Deaths in custody, Juveniles in detention and Homicide. The AIC produces an annual compilation of crime statistics ( Australian crime : facts and figures) which includes Indigenous data from several sources. Further data relevant to Indigenous persons, including comparative analysis, is available in the statistics section of this website.

Other significant data collections:

• Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage : key indicators
  Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service Provision (SCRGSP), 2003-
• Report on government services : Indigenous compendium
  Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service Provision (SCRGSP), 2003-
• The Health and Welfare of Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples 2005
  Authored by AIHW & ABS, 2005
• Child protection Australia 2004-05
  Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2006
• Recorded Crime - Victims, Australia, 2005
  Australian Bureau of Statistics, report 4510.0 (2006)
• Crime and Safety, Australia, Apr 2005
  Australian Bureau of Statistics, report 4509.0 (2006)
• National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social survey
  Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2002

More information and data on Indigenous violence and child abuse are available in the comprehensive Indigenous justice statistics section of the AIC website.

Other key information

A number of significant resources are available from other agencies.

• Family violence among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
  Fadwa Al-Yaman, Mieke Van Doeland and Michelle Wallis, Australian Institute of Heath and Welfare, 2006
• Ending Family Violence in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities
  Prepared by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, June 2006
• Western Australian Aboriginal Child Health Survey
  Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, 2004-2006
• Good practice in Indigenous family violence prevention - Designing and evaluating successful programs
  Australian Domestic and Family Violence Clearinghouse (UNSW), 2006 (PDF 509kB)
• Putting the picture together : final report of the Inquiry into Response by Government Agencies to Complaints of Family Violence and Child Abuse in Aboriginal Communities (PDF 9.7MB)
  Sue Gordon, Chair, 2002
• The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women's Task Force on Violence report
  Boni Robertson, Chair, 2000
• Inquiry into the Protection of Aboriginal Children from Sexual Abuse
  Northern Territory Government, 2006
• Child abuse in the Aboriginal community. (Bibliography)
  Australian Institute of Family Studies. National Child Protection Clearinghouse, 2006.

Other key agencies also hold useful information and data, conduct research and advise on policy directly related to Indigenous violence and child abuse.

A comprehensive list of valuable resources are also accessible through the Indigenous justice topics page on this web-site.