Aboriginal Punishment System

Aboriginality in the 1900s was widely viewed as a socially primitive culture, whose behaviour was considered barbaric and therefore did not fit in with the values of ‘white Australia’ and ideals of the West about civility (Van Krieken 2000:247; Australian Human Rights Commission 1997). This resulted in the introduction of the NSW Aborigines Protection Board 1883 and the Aboriginal Protection Amending Act 1915 (NSW) that meant Australian government authorities had full control to attain legal guardianship of all Indigenous and half-caste children, to be ‘merged’ into the non-Indigenous population (Australian Human Rights Commission And Equal Opportunity Commission 1997). Conceptions by the State and church about civilisation warranted the intervention

One of the most significant events in Aboriginal peoples struggle for rights in Australia was the Mabo decision in 1992. This event took away the myth of terra nullius from Australian law and would recognise rights that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have to the land and waters according to tradition. Thus, creating way for the legal recognition of native land titles (Loos & Mabo, 2013). This essay will explain the impact of the Mabo decision, what events led to this event and what impact this has on Australian people today.

This highlights how the acquisition of rights for Aboriginal people was a fractured process as they still faced discrimination in the wake of changes that were meant to work in their favor. Although the Referendum did not increase the rights of Aboriginal people, it is still important in the Aboriginal Rights movement as it created the possibility for the Federation to create laws that could benefit or support Aboriginal

In each of those cases, laws restricting and curtailing the rights of Aboriginals under the Constitution were defended. A lot of misconceptions and controversy have risen along the positive outcomes of the referendum, as it didn’t bring the equality for Aboriginal people as it was expected. Instead it launched a “blame game” between the federal, state and the territory governments.

There are many theories that could provide an expatiation to overrepresentation of Aboriginal people in justice system. First is the culture clash theory that was purposed by the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP) (1996), this theory suggests that the overrepresentation occurs when Aboriginal people’s value does not fit to justice system, due to the fact that Aboriginal people concept of justice is different than Euro-Canadian concept. An example of culture clash theory that contributes in overrepresentation of Aboriginal people is a result of non-Aboriginal people understanding the cultural norms of an Aboriginal community. An example of differences in Aboriginal community and non-Aboriginal community is that for Aboriginal

Although Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander customary laws are shown to be harsh, even brutal at times, Australian law has changed to integrate this cultural heritage. Although uncommon, customary law has been applied in legal rulings, as seen in cases involving Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people (Colin Goodsell v Galarrwuy Yunupingu). Traditional punishments such as payback have also been recognised by some Australian courts (The Queen v Wilson Jagamara Walker).[1] Furthermore, in some cases defence lawyers have specifically asked for their clients to be released on bail to face punishment under customary law.

Today Australia prides itself on being a place of fairness and equity for all its citizens. But the Australian Constitution still does not recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians as the first people of this land. Importantly, we now know that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their cultures form part of the longest culture on Earth and evidence of their presence in Australia is now dated back over 60,000 years. It is only right that modern Australia should recognise and acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and culture - past and present - in our Constitution to record their valued place as part of this country and our national identity. Most of the states - Victoria, Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia have already amended their Constitutions to formally recognise Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Australians as the first people and nations of their jurisdictions.

Throughout Australia’s post settlement history a blind eye, or rather more of a blindfold, has been turned by ordinary Australia’s towards the indigenous population. The original inhabitants of this country have suffered through the injustices of being dislocated from their own land, not just when the ‘invaders’

Institutional racism is unfair practice based on race, discrimination done by Government bodies, corporation, media outlets and schools. This type of racism Favor one ethnicity over another, example of that kind of prejudice can be found all over the Americas, here in Canada there’s been many instances of institutionalize racism, different government services has been set to fail aboriginal and other people of color in Canada since the founding of this nation. There’s various types of racism, we can experience by an institution such as: Face to face encounter, internalized and institutionalized when it widely spread among the personnel. When an ethnicity is stigmatized, they are subject to be alienated.

The main principles of the Australian Legal System are fairness, equality before the law and justice. The constitution provides a structure that outlines separation and division of powers, defining the powers exercised by the government bodies. This is demonstrated through the constitution defining acceptable and unacceptable conduct which outlines expectations for the Australian public, enabling social cohesion and upholding rule of law. The Australian Legal System is based on legal and social principles ensuring laws are democratically enforced and free from arbitrary exercise of power. The Australian Legal System establishes laws promoting social cohesion and enabling social progress within our multicultural society.

Assimilation, in context of post 1788 Australia, refers to the forced breeding and other integration processes that were used to attempt to slowly remove Aboriginal people from Australia (Partington, 1998). Assimilation followed the protection era – a time at which legislation was introduced to ‘protect’ Indigenous individuals; a pretext under which the government were able to control and exert power over the Aboriginal population. From these acts stemmed assimilation policies on the other hand were aimed at the younger generation of the Aboriginal population as they were seen more fit and able to fully integrate into post-settlement Australia (Gibson, 2015). This notion meant that many, if not most Aboriginal children were forcefully taken

ALRM (aboriginal legal rights movement) ALRM is a South Australian legal rights organization designed to assist and protect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and is controlled and ran by the Aboriginal community . ALRM’s main focus is to advance the legal interest of Aboriginal people in South Australia particularly those who are in custody and unsure that those rights are being enforced and not being misused or abused under the law . ALRM provide many services and programs in a verity of areas including the following: -AVS (aboriginal visitors scheme) is a program that involves qualified visitors supporting aboriginal people in police custody. The visitor’s attend police cells and assist officers in their duty of care by personally

The aboriginal people did not get what they deserved; they got the shorter end of the stick. They were killed by the plague and the ones that survived were

Aboriginal women and domestic violence has a strong correlation. When comparing the extent and severity of violence against Aboriginal women and non-Aboriginal women there is evidence proving that the Aboriginal women have a great chance of facing domestic violence during the duration of their lifespan in comparison to the non-Aboriginal

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have resided in Australia for at least 60,000 years with an extraordinary relationship to the land and sea; Land rights were formed by a complex social process constructed on traditional values where the rights of the land were hereditary, established on principles of decedents, kinship and marriage (Dodds, 1998).