Aboriginal Youth and the Criminal Justice System: The Injustice of Justice?

Gale, Fay/ Bailey-Harris, Rebecca/ Wundersitz, Joy

ISBN 10: 0521125987 / ISBN 13: 9780521125987

Published by Cambridge Univ Pr, 2010

About this Item

1st edition. 156 pages. 8.50x5.50x0.25 inches. In Stock. This item is printed on demand.

Seller Inventory # __0521125987

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Aboriginal Youth and the Criminal Justice System: The Injustice of Justice?
• Publisher: Cambridge Univ Pr
• Publication Date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521125987
• ISBN 13: 9780521125987
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: Brand New
• Weight: 0.25 kilograms

About this title

Synopsis

This book is a 1990 account of the ways in which young Aborigines were at a disadvantage before laws and legislation had been introduced, intended to improve their position. Aboriginal Youth and the Criminal Justice System focuses on South Australia, where detailed statistics are available, in a sophisticated analysis of the exact nature of the discrimination experienced by young Aborigines. Fay Gale, Rebecca Bailey-Harris and Joy Wundersitz examine the criminal justice system in operation; from the initial intervention by a police officer, through the process of screening and assessment to the final outcome - which all too often is a criminal record. The research clearly shows that at every point where discretion was exercised within this system, Aboriginal youths received the harsher option. Thus disadvantage is heaped on disadvantage until young Aboriginals were imprisoned at 23 times the rate of other young Australians. Even for those who escaped detention, participation in the criminal justice system was often such an ordeal that it became a form of punishment in itself. Discretion, though preferable to inflexible rules could operate against a group whose lifestyle and values differed from mainstream society.

Book Description

This book is a 1990 account of the ways in which young Aborigines were at a disadvantage before laws and legislation had been introduced, intended to improve their position. Aboriginal Youth and the Criminal Justice System focuses on South Australia, where detailed statistics are available, in a sophisticated analysis of the exact nature of the discrimination experienced by young Aborigines.