98002 Indigenous Perspectives on Crime and Justice
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particular session, location and mode of offering is the authoritative source
of all information about the subject for that offering. Required texts, recommended texts and references in particular are likely to change. Students will be provided with a subject outline once they enrol in the subject.
Subject handbook information prior to 2025 is available in the Archives.
Credit points: 8 cp
Result type: Grade and marks
Requisite(s): 48 credit points of completed study in Adv. Diploma/Diploma course OR 48 credit points of completed study in Bachelor's Combined Degree OR 48 credit points of completed study in Bachelor's Combined Honours OR 48 credit points of completed study in a Bachelor's Degree OR 48 credit points of completed study in Bachelor's Honours OR 48 credit points of completed study in Bachelor's Honours Embedded OR 48 credit points of completed study in Diploma/Assoc Diploma OR 48 credit points of completed study in an Associate Degree
Description
Students in this subject learn about, reflect on and critique the historical and contemporary relationships between Australian First Nations peoples and the Australian legal and criminal justice system. Students focus on various aspects of and perspectives on crime (prevention, policing, victims, offending) and both conventional and alternative models of justice. They examine complex relationships from various perspectives and build their professional skills in Indigenous cultural safety.
Subject learning objectives (SLOs)
| a. | Research the impact of colonisation on contemporary practice in the criminal justice system and Indigenous Australians. |
|---|---|
| b. | Critique contemporary issues about the experiences of Indigenous Australians and their interaction with the criminal justice system. |
| c. | Critically evaluate criminal justice policies and practices that focus on Indigenous Australians. |
| d. | Examine government responses and partner agencies’ responses that affect the interactions of Indigenous people with the criminal justice system. |
| e. | Critically reflect on diverse perspectives and apply it to practice, including that of Indigenous cultural safety. |
Course intended learning outcomes (CILOs)
This subject engages with the following Course Intended Learning Outcomes (CILOs), which are tailored to the Graduate Attributes set for all graduates of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (INT = International Studies CILOs):
- Apply and evaluate methodologies, technologies and practices relevant to contemporary criminology for policy formulation, risk analysis and stakeholder cooperation (1.2)
- Employ skills in critical analysis, problem solving, data literacy to analyse and respond to criminal justice and social policy challenges within organisations, communities and systems of governance (2.1)
- Employ knowledge from and about local and international contexts to understand and respond appropriately to intercultural dimensions of crime and justice (3.2)
- Examine the impact of historical and contemporary legal and criminal justice policies and practices upon Indigenous peoples and communities (4.1)
- Develop professional capabilities and practices to work effectively with and for Indigenous peoples across the legal and criminal justice system (4.2)
- Act with personal and ethical integrity and demonstrate social responsibility, demonstrating a critical understanding of the links between criminal law, criminal process, criminalization, poverty, disadvantage and justice (5.1)
- Convey complex concepts clearly, logically and effectively in written and oral forms to a variety of audiences (6.1)
Teaching and learning strategies
Learning opportunities in this subject utilise recorded lectures. These should be reviewed as preparation for interactive and practical weekly sessions where students discuss and analyse current and historical and contemporary issues.
Students are expected to complete all preparation activities – typically active watching of video resources, reading, and various online learning activities - prior to attending their face-to-face class session. Formative online activities (discussions, unmarked quizzes, polls) allow students to track their progress and improve their comprehension of the material and their study skills.
Throughout the subject, students develop a broad knowledge and skillset such as information finding and gathering, critical thinking and analysis, along with developing their written and oral communication skills that will need as future practitioners in criminological careers, and when working with and for Indigenous Australians. Assessments contribute to the development of these capabilities and deepen knowledge of the subject content.
An aim of this subject is to help students develop academic and professional language and communication skills to succeed at university and in the workplace, in particular when working with and for Indigenous Australians.
During this subject, students complete a milestone assessment task that will, in addition to assessing subject-specific learning objectives, assess their English language proficiency.
Content (topics)
The subject focuses on issues impacting on contemporary relations between Indigenous Australians and the criminal justice system with a view to understanding casual factors and identifying relevant criminal justice responses.
Students examine the historical relations between the legal and criminal justice system, and Indigenous Australians in those relations. Specific points of focus include criminal justice procedures and practices, Indigenous community relations, including self-determination and justice, and Indigenous reinvestment.
Assessment
Assessment task 1: Reflective Commentary
| Objective(s): | a, b, c and d | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight: | 25% | ||||||||||||||||
| Length: | 1,000 words (including in-text citations, excluding reference list.) | ||||||||||||||||
| Criteria linkages: |
SLOs: subject learning objectives CILOs: course intended learning outcomes |
Assessment task 2: Practice Evaluation
| Objective(s): | a, b, c and d | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight: | 35% | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Length: | 1,500 words (including in-text citations, excluding reference list.) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Criteria linkages: |
SLOs: subject learning objectives CILOs: course intended learning outcomes |
Assessment task 3: Recorded Oral Presentation on Professional Capabilities
| Objective(s): | b, d and e | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight: | 40% | ||||||||||||||||
| Length: | 15-minute recorded presentation | ||||||||||||||||
| Criteria linkages: |
SLOs: subject learning objectives CILOs: course intended learning outcomes |
Required texts
There is no key text for this subject. Weekly key readings and resources will be made available to students via the module folder in canvas.
References
Anthony, T. (2013).?Indigenous people, crime, and punishment. Routledge.
Anthony, T. (2018). “They were treating me like a dog”: The colonial continuum of state harms against indigenous children in detention in the Northern Territory, Australia.?State Crime Journal,?7(2), 251-277.
Anthony, T., Bartels, L., & Hopkins, A. (2015). Lessons lost in sentencing: welding individualised justice to Indigenous justice.?Melbourne University Law Review,?39(1), 47-76.
Anthony, T., Sentance, G., & Bartels, L. (2020). Transcending colonial legacies: From criminal justice to indigenous women’s healing. In?Neo-Colonial Injustice and the Mass Imprisonment of Indigenous Women?(pp. 103-131). Palgrave Macmillan.
Anthony, T., & Blagg, H. (2021). Biopower of colonialism in carceral contexts: Implications for Aboriginal deaths in custody.?Journal of Bioethical Inquiry,?18(1), 71-82.
Attwood, B and Markus, A. (1999). The Struggle for Aboriginal Rights: A documentary History (pp.1-21). Allen and Unwin.
Bandler, F. (1989).? After the referendum.? In Turning the tide (pp. 113-129).? Aboriginal Studies Press.,
Behrendt, L. (2002). Ensuring that Sentencing ‘Alternatives’ Focus on Indigenous Self-Determination.?Restorative justice and family violence, 178-184.
Behrendt, L. (2003). Achieving social justice: Indigenous rights and Australia's future. Federation Press.
Blagg, H. (1997). A just measure of shame? Aboriginal youth and conferencing in Australia. British Journal of Criminology, 37(4), 481-501.
Blagg, H., & Anthony, T. (2019). Restorative Justice or Indigenous Justice? In?Decolonising Criminology?(pp. 133-152). Palgrave Macmillan.
Blagg, H. & Valuri, G. (2004). ‘Aboriginal community patrols in Australia:? Self-policing, self-determination and security’. Policing & Society, 14(4), 313-328.
Combined Aboriginal Organisations of the Northern Territory (2007). A Proposed Emergency Response and Development Plan to protect Aboriginal children in the Northern Territory: A preliminary response to the Australian Government’s proposals. Combined Aboriginal Organisations of the Northern Territory.
Corbo Crehan, A. (2010). ‘Appropriate’ police discretion and Indigenous over-representation in the criminal justice system. Australian Journal of Professional and Applied Ethics, 11: 68–80.
Cunneen, C (2007). ‘The Criminalisation of Indigenous People’. In Race and racialization: essential readings (pp. 266-275). Canadian Scholars' Press.
Cunneen, C (2011). ‘Punishment: two decades of penal expansionism and its effects on Indigenous imprisonment’, Australian Indigenous Law Review, 15 (1), 8-17.
Cunneen, C. (2018). Indigenous challenges for southern criminology. In?The Palgrave handbook of criminology and the global south?(pp. 19-41). Palgrave Macmillan.
Cunneen, C. (2018). Sentencing, punishment and indigenous people in Australia. Journal of Global Indigeneity,?3(1), 6-19.
Cunneen, C. (2019). Indigenous Women and Criminal Justice.?Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Relations. Oxford University Press.
Cunneen, C. (2020). Youth justice and racialization: Comparative reflections.?Theoretical Criminology,?24(3), 521-539.
Cunneen, C. (2020).?Conflict, politics and crime: Aboriginal communities and the police. Routledge.
Cunneen, C. & Libesman, T. (1995).? Case study:? The removal of Aboriginal children.? In Indigenous People and the Law in Australia, (pp. 44-55). Sydney.
Cunneen, C., & Porter, A. (2017). Indigenous peoples and criminal justice in Australia. In?The Palgrave handbook of Australian and New Zealand criminology, crime and justice?(pp. 667-682). Palgrave Macmillan.
Cunneen, C., & Tauri, J. M. (2019). Indigenous peoples, criminology, and criminal justice.?Annual Review of Criminology,?2, 359-381.
Cunneen, C., & Porter, A. (2020). Settler Colonial Law and the Prison Industrial Complex. Cambridge University Press.
Cunneen, C., Porter, A., & Behrendt, L. (2018). Discussion paper: Aboriginal youth cautioning. Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research, UTS.
Davis, Megan (2011). A reflection on the royal commission into aboriginal deaths in custody and its consideration of aboriginal women's issues [online]. Australian Indigenous Law Review, 15(1): 25-33.
Finnane, M. (1994).? The government of Aborigines.? In Police and government:? Histories of policing in Australia (pp. 111-122).? Oxford University Press.
Hampton, R. & Toombs, M. (2013) 'Racism, Colonisation/Colonialism and Impacts on Indigenous People'. In Indigenous Australians and Health - the Wombat in the Room (pp.28-48).?Oxford University Press.
Johnston, E. (1991). Overview. Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, National Report, Vol. 1. Australian Government Publishing Service.
Magallanes, C.J.I. (1999).? International human rights and their impact on domestic law on Indigenous peoples’ rights in Australia, Canada and New Zealand.? In Indigenous peoples’ rights in Australia, Canada and New Zealand (pp. 235-276). SSRN.
McCaulsand and Vician (2010). 'Why do Some Aboriginal Communities have Lower Crime Rates than Others'. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, 42(2), 301-332.
NSW Department of Health (2019). Communicating Positively: A Guide to Appropriate Aboriginal Terminology. NSW Department of Health.
Oxley, R. (2021). Larissa Behrendt–Achieving Social Justice: Indigenous Rights and Australia’s Future. In?Leading Works in Law and Social Justice?(pp. 151-168). Routledge.
Porter, A. (2018). Non-state policing, legal pluralism and the mundane governance of" crime".?Sydney Law Review,?40(4), 445-467.
Porter, A. (2019). Aboriginal sovereignty, crime and criminology.?Current Issues in Criminal Justice, 31(1), 122-142.
Porter, A., & Cunneen, C. (2020). Policing settler colonial societies. In?Australian Policing?(pp. 397-411). Routledge.
Quiggin, R. (2018). What does democracy and self-determination mean for Indigenous Australians??Australian Journal of Public Administration,?77(S1), S52-S58.
Reynolds, H. (1999).? New frontiers.? In Indigenous peoples’ rights in Australia, Canada and New Zealand (pp. 128-138).? Oxford University Press.
Schwartz, M., Brown, D. B., & Cunneen, C. (2017). Justice reinvestment.?Justice Reinvestment, Brief,?21, 18-8.
Stubbs, J (2013) ‘Indigenous women and penal politics'.?In Crime, Justice and Social Democracy (pp. 248-266). Palgrave MacMillan.