Indigenous community members outside the Victorian coroners court ahead of the release of a report into the death of Veronica Nelson.
Tamati Smith/Getty Images
Arrested on suspicion of shoplifting and denied bail, Veronica Nelson died alone in a cell. A Victorian coroner has called for urgent reform of the state’s tough bail laws.
Where is the justice for young people whose mental health is impacted by being incarcerated?
Here, where the Black Lives Matter movement has brought focus to First Nations people dying in custody, media attention has been episodic and too often absent.
Provided by author
George Floyd’s death and the US Black Lives Matter movement sparked extensive media attention. Why aren’t Australian Indigenous deaths in custody getting the same amount of media coverage?
There have been 474 deaths in custody since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.
AAP
Investigations and inquests that follow a death in custody can offer insight into what happened. But much work is still needed to make these processes transparent and effective.
It’s a tragedy that hundreds have died because the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody were not implemented fully.
The call to defund the police forces us to reconsider our priorities: more police and prisons or investments in social housing, mental health services, domestic violence and family support programs?
Australia has a mandatory legal review of every death in custody. But the system itself often prevents families from speaking out – a significant barrier to getting justice.
As Australians gear up to protest police violence against Indigenous people, an infectious diseases expert looks at how to manage the risk of COVID-19.
The statistics used to discuss deaths in custody can make us lose sight of the fact that it’s people we’re talking about. People with families and friends, who died prematurely – and often brutally.
The royal commission was highly critical of police investigating other police officers, but police remain responsible for investigating deaths in custody in most Australian jurisdictions.
Rae Allen/Flickr
Accountability for the deaths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people at the hands of the state remains absent 25 years after the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody’s report.
Reema Rattan, The Conversation and Wes Mountain, The Conversation
In the 25 years since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, we’ve gone backwards.
A harsh criminal justice system – in particular, more prisons and people behind bars – has apparently become a hallmark of good government.
AAP/Dave Hunt
Australia has become less compassionate, more punitive and more ready to blame individuals for their alleged failings since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.
Indigenous prison and police custody rates have actually increased since the royal commission tabled its report.
AAP/Richard Milnes
The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody’s report was meant to be a blueprint for reducing the disproportionate incarceration of Indigenous Australians and deaths in custody.
The Northern Territory’s ‘paperless arrest’ powers are at odds with recommendations by the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.
Shutterstock/Igor Golovniov
Northern Territory police powers to make ‘paperless arrests’ are completely contrary to recommendations by the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, and now the inevitable has happened.
Professor, The Centre of Best Practice in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention, the Poche Centre for Indigenous Health, The University of Western Australia