Breaking the Cycle: Addressing Risk Factors Contributing to the Over-Representation of Aboriginal Youth in the Criminal Justice System (From Reducing Criminality--Partnerships and Best Practices, P 1-6, 2000, Adam Graycar, ed. -- See NCJ-186333)

• NCJ Number: 186336
• Author(s): Robert E. Fitzgerald; Merrilyn Green; Merrilyn Green
• Date Published: 2000
• Length: 6 pages
• Sale Source: Australian Institute of Criminology
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: Australia

Annotation

This paper considers factors contributing to the over-representation of aboriginal youth in the Australian criminal justice system.

Abstract

Despite genuine attempts at reform, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people continue to be arrested and imprisoned at rates many times greater than those of non-Indigenous Australians. Strategies that divert offenders from the formal criminal justice system, juvenile detention, and imprisonment can reduce the level of involvement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the criminal justice system but are an incomplete answer. Only programs that address factors known to be associated with an increased risk of developing offending behavior can achieve an enduring solution. The Aboriginal Cyclic Offending Project has been implemented at two pilot sites in Western Australia with a view to breaking the cycle of Aboriginal young people's involvement in the criminal justice system. Key elements of the program are partnership between government and Aboriginal people, coordination of effort across agencies, targeting crime risk and protective factors, information-based decision making, local management, and vigorous evaluation. The paper contains an overview of the research and policy background to the project, describes implementation of the project at one of the pilot sites, and explores some related structural and process issues. Notes