Dual Justice System In Australia Essay

There exists dual justice systems in many contemporary tribal communities, which can be distinguished from a so-called American or Australian paradigm of justice and an indigenous paradigm. In both the United States and Australia, issues increasingly raised due to overrepresentation of Aboriginal people as victims and offenders in criminal justice systems (Nielsen & Robyn, 2003). The incarceration number of indigenous peoples in both countries are higher than they should be based on their proportion of the country's population. In Australia, it is found by Australia Bureau of Statistics (2000, cited in Nielsen & Robyn, 2003) that indigenous offenders account for 20 percent of the population of imprisonment, while they only account for 2.1 percent of the total population. In recent decades, indigenous imprisonment rates have been increasing faster than the rates of non-indigenous. Furthermore, both indigenous children and women are over-represented in the criminal justice system. In the United States, Native Hawaiians comprise 24 percent of the general population of Hawai‘i, whereas 27 percent of all arrests (Nielsen & Robyn, 2003). The researchers also mentioned that native American women are most likely to be over-represented. These

It is indicated by Australian Institute of Criminology (1995, cited in Davis, 1999) that income inequalities and lack of employment and opportunities might be the reason why crime is problematic in indigenous societies. The process of colonization and dispossession left Indigenous Australians disempowered and feel marginalized, which was responsible for the high degree of aboriginal social and economic disadvantage. As a result, indigenous people’s level of both unemployment and school completions are far worse than those of non-Indigenous people. The low level of education and unemployment might further lead to the high risks and chances of being