Soaring female Indigenous imprisonment rate obstructing Closing the Gap targets, says report
Source: Guardian
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are the fastest growing segment of the prisoner population, report finds
Calla Wahlquist
@callapilla
Sunday 14 May 2017 15.59 EDT
. . .
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are the fastest growing segment of the prisoner population and are 21 times more likely to be imprisoned than non-Indigenous women.
But rates of female Indigenous imprisonment, which have increased 248% since the 1991 final report into the royal commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody, are often overlooked in broader discussions because they are subsumed by larger statistics around Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men, according to a report released on Monday.
The report by the Human Rights Law Centre and the Change the Record Coalitionfound that the lack of data on female Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prisoners and lack of specific initiatives to help Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women allowed the imprisonment rate to increase.
. . .
It also recommended that states and territories identify and remove laws to identify those that disproportionately criminalise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, like being jailed for fines, and that each jurisdiction establish a mandatory custody notification scheme similar to the model used in New South Wales.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/may/15/soaring-female-indigenous-imprisonment-rate-obstructing-closing-the-gap-targets-report
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