Punishment: two decades of penal expansionism and its effects on Indigenous imprisonment

Abstract

[Extract] There was optimism at the time of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (RCADIC) that Indigenous imprisonment rates would be reduced. Indeed a core finding of the Commission had been the need to reduce Indigenous custody and imprisonment, and the consequent over-representation of Indigenous people, as a way of addressing the large number of Indigenous deaths in custody. However, over the last two decades Indigenous imprisonment rates have grown significantly rather than declined.