NSW: One-third of indigenous men have been arrested: study

AAP General News (Australia)
12-10-2001
NSW: One-third of indigenous men have been arrested: study

By Maureen Dettre

SYDNEY, Dec 10 AAP - Nearly a third of Australia's indigenous men were arrested over
a five-year period, according to report released today.

The Australian National University (ANU) report, produced on behalf of the NSW Bureau
of Crime Statistics and Research, is the first of its kind analysing the detention of
indigenous people.

Its analysis of data found one in five indigenous Australians were arrested at least
once in the five years before the 1994 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Survey (NATSIS).

The report found that 31.6 per cent of males and 9.4 per cent of females aged over
13 years had been arrested over the five-year period.

The average number of arrests per person was approximately three for males and 2.3 for females.

Youths aged between 18 and 24 tend to have the highest incidence of arrest with the
youngest and oldest age groups having very low arrest rates.

Generally, males are four times more likely to have been arrested than females in each age group.

The exception to this is males under 18 who are over five times more likely to have
been arrested than underaged females.

Indigenous Australians who were unemployed, drank alcohol or had been physically attacked
or verbally threatened were much more likely to be arrested.

Those factors were also important predictors of the number of times an Aboriginal or
Torres Strait Islander was arrested over five years.

Alcohol consumption was a particularly important risk factor, with the risk of arrest
being about 13 percentage points higher for an indigenous person who drank.

Other significant factors which increased risk of arrest included being male, living
in a crowded house, being taken away from natural family as a child, limited education
and sharing a house with other people who have been arrested.

The unprecedented NATSIS analysed socioeconomic and cultural data after a canvass gathered
information from 10,235 respondents aged 13 years and over.

Bureau director Don Weatherburn said the report highlighted the need to tackle the
underlying causes of crime in indigenous communities.

He said these were social dysfunction, economic disadvantage and alcohol abuse.

"If we want to reduce indigenous over-representation in the criminal justice system
we need to create jobs for Aboriginal people, improve educational outcomes for Aboriginal
children and help Aboriginal communities overcome the problem of alcohol abuse," he said.

AAP maur/arb/pw/bwl

KEYWORD: INDIGENOUS

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