Indigenous justice in Australia

Victims

See also: Indigenous victims of crime statistics

As well as being disproportionately over-represented within the criminal justice system as offenders, Indigenous Australians are also significantly more likely to be victimised.

Comparison with the ABS General social survey indicates that Indigenous people aged 18 years or over experienced double the victimisation rate of non-Indigenous people.

In New South Wales, Indigenous people are at least twice as likely to be victims of violent offences as non-Indigenous people.

Victimisation rate for Indigenous and non-Indigenous New South Wales victims, 2000

Adapted from: Aboriginal victimisation and offending: the picture from police records, Jacqueline Fitzgerald and Don Weatherburn, December 2001

In Western Australia in 2001, the Indigenous violence victimisation rate was 55.2 per 1,000 Indigenous people, about five times the non-Indigenous rate of 11.5 per 1,000 non-Indigenous people. See:

• Aboriginal involvement in the criminal justice system : a statistical review, 2001
  Nini Loh and Anna Ferrante, Crime Research Centre, University of Western Australia, 2003

In a high percentage of incidents, Indigenous perpetrators commit violent offences against Indigenous victims. For example, Indigenous Australians are significantly more likely to be both the perpetrators and victims of homicide. See:

• Indigenous and non-Indigenous homicides in Australia: a comparative analysis
  Jenny Mouzos, 2001
• Homicide rates higher for Indigenous Australians
  Crime facts info, 2001

Other resources

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Victims of Crime interagency forum: report (PDF 148kB)
  New South Wales Aboriginal Justice Advisory Council and Victims of Crime Bureau, 2001
• Experience of criminal victimisation
  Satyanshu Mukherjee, Carlos Carcach, David McDonald and Tony Barnes, 1998. Chapter 6 in Law and justice issues, Indigenous Australians
• For additional statistics see Indigenous victims of crime statistics