Daniel Roberts WR

Indigenous Overrepresentation
1.”The indigenous population is overrepresented in our legal system.”
Provide statistics to support this statement.

2% of Australia’s population are indigenous Australians, however, they make up

27% of the prisoner population. In the Northern Territory, 84% of prisoners are
indigenous, although this may be to do with the high percentage of indigenous
Australians in the Northern Territory. In Victoria, 8% of prisoners are Aboriginal, even
though less than one percent of Victoria’s population is indigenous.

2. Explain 3 issues facing the indigenous population during questioning and giving
evidence. How does this impact on the Principle of Justice?

One issue that the indigenous population face during questioning and giving
evidence is the difference in languages between the courts and their local language. An
example where this causes huge problems is that ‘kill’ in Aboriginal means to hit
someone, causing injury but not necessarily killing them. This means the witness will
not present the correct facts.

A second issue faced by the indigenous population in questioning and giving

evidence is the body language shown. Generally in Australia, if you do not make eye
contact while talking about something, it generally means you either do not show
remorse or your story is untruthful, but to the indigenous, direct eye contact can be
disrespectful, so they avoid this.

A third issue faced by the indigenous population during questioning and giving
evidence is cultural taboos, such as some Aboriginal communities forbidding the people
to speak of certain things, such as the names of dead people. These cause the indigenous
population to withhold information and it also causes confusion when they cannot use
names.

3. Explain the role of the Koori Court.

The Koori court is a division of the Magistrates, County and Children’s criminal
courts. It was establishes in 2002 to provide a fair, equitable and culturally relevant
justice service to the Indigenous community.

a. What conditions must be meet to be able to use the Koori Court?

The accused must be an aboriginal person, the offence must be in the jurisdiction of the
relevant court (the Koori court cannot hear sexual offences however, the accused must
consent, depending on the court the accused must plead guilty or intend to plead guilty.

b. Describe the proceedings in the Koori Court.

The court must make the proceedings informal and so that Indigenous Australians can
understand the proceedings.
Daniel Roberts WR

4. Read the press release and explain the changes the Victorian Government has
introduced.

The changes that the Victorian Government have implemented are funding
organisations such as Aboriginal Home Violence Prevention and Legal Service,
Connecting Home Ltd, Victorian Aboriginal Childcare Agency and Relationships
Australia. These services will hopefully drive down the recidivism rate of Aboriginals in
our legal system.

5. Identify the way the expansion of the County Koori Court and the increased
funding for indigenous prisoners responds to each of the following:
 Overrepresentation of the indigenous population in prison

The Koori Court aims to reduce the indigenous population by giving indigenous charged
with a crime a chance to chat about the case and come to an agreement if they plead
guilty. In these discussions, they will have an elder present and it is in an informal
environment, so they will not be intimidated by proceedings.

 Principles of justice-Fairness, Equality & Access

The Koori Court aims to create a fair system where the indigenous population can
explain their version of events and they can understand their rights. While it displays
fairness, it does not display equality because they are not being treated the same as the
rest of your population. It definitely displays access as the indigenous can exercise their
rights and get legal representation, which links back to having a fair court process.