Christine Bond

Sentencing Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Women in Western Australia's Higher Courts

This article presents results from an exploratory study seeking to examine the role of sentencing in the continuing overrepresentation of Indigenous women in Western Australias prisons. Sentencing data from Western Australias higher courts indicate that Indigenous women were less likely than non-Indigenous women to be sentenced to a term of imprisonment when appearing before the court for comparable offending behaviour and histories.

Narratives of mitigation Sentencing Indigenous criminal defendants in South Australia’s higher courts

In their statistical analyses of higher court sentencing in South Australia, Jeffries and Bond (2009) found evidence that Indigenous offenders were treated more leniently than non-Indigenous offenders, when they appeared before the court under similar numerical circumstances. Using a sample of narratives for criminal defendants convicted in South Australia’s higher courts, the current article extends Jeffries and Bond’s (2009) prior statistical work by drawing on the ‘focal concerns’ approach to establish whether, and in what ways, Indigeneity comes to exert a mitigating influence over sentencing. Results show that the sentencing stories of Indigenous and non-Indigenous offenders differed in ways that may have reduced assessments of blameworthiness and risk for Indigenous defendants. In addition, judges highlighted a number of Indigenous-specific constraints that potentially could result in imprisonment being construed as an overly harsh and costly sentence for Indigenous offenders.

Indigeneity and the likelihood of imprisonment in Queensland's adult and children's courts

Australian research on Indigenous sentencing disparities of the standard of international work is somewhat recent. Contrary to expectations based on international research, Australian studies generally have not found Indigenous offenders to be treated substantively more harshly than non-Indigenous offenders in similar circumstances. However, this research has primarily focused on adult higher courts, with little attention to lower courts and childrens courts. In this article, we examine whether Indigeneity has a direct impact on the judicial decision to incarcerate for three courts (adult higher, adult lower, childrens higher court) in Queensland. We found no significant differences in the likelihood of a sentence of incarceration in the higher courts (adult and childrens). In contrast, in the lower courts, Indigenous defendants were more likely to be imprisoned than non-Indigenous defendants when sentenced under statistically similar circumstances.

The Impact of Indigenous Status on Adult Sentencing: A Review of the Statistical Research Literature From the United States, Canada, and Australia

The gross overrepresentation of Indigenous peoples in prison populations suggests that sentencing may be a discriminatory process. Using findings from recent (1991–2011) multivariate statistical sentencing analyses from the United States, Canada, and Australia, we review the 3 key hypotheses advanced as plausible explanations for baseline sentencing discrepancies between Indigenous and non-Indigenous adult criminal defendants: (a) differential involvement, (b) negative discrimination, and (c) positive discrimination. Overall, the prior research shows strong support for the differential involvement thesis and some support for the discrimination theses (positive and negative). We argue that where discrimination is found, it may be explained by the lack of a more complete set of control variables in researchers’ multivariate models and/or differing political and social contexts.

Harsher Sentences? Indigeneity and prison sentence length in Western Australia's higher courts

Overall, reviews of international sentencing research conclude that offenders’ race/ethnicity has a direct effect on sentencing outcomes. Although specific research on Indigenous status and sentencing is much more limited, there is emerging evidence that Indigeneity also has a direct impact on sentencing outcomes. While North American research suggests harsher outcomes, Australian research indicates more lenient outcomes at some stage of the process. The current study examines the effect of Indigenous status on the length of imprisonment decision in Western Australia’s higher courts. We found that Indigenous offenders receive shorter terms of imprisonment than non-Indigenous offenders in statistically similar circumstances. We argue that our findings are broadly consistent with focal concerns of blameworthiness, risk and practical concerns having an impact on decisions about length of term. However, Indigeneity does not evoke the same judicial perceptions of race as suggested by prior North American research.

Keeping it in the family: Parental influences on young people’s attitudes to police

Prior research finds young people are less satisfied with police than their older counterparts. Despite this, our understanding of youth attitudes to police is limited, as most research has focused on adult attitudes to police. This study adds to our understanding by examining the influence of parent–child dynamics on youth attitudes to police. We predict that youth attitudes to police will be influenced by their parents’ attitudes. A survey of 540 school students in South East Queensland reveals that perceived parental attitudes to police are associated with youth attitudes to police. However, this effect is partially mediated by maternal, but not paternal attachment. These findings suggest that youth attitudes to police are not simply influenced by contact with police and delinquency, but that familial context is important. Consequently, our theoretical understanding of youth attitudes to police must move beyond a focus upon police contact and delinquency.

Gender, Indigeneity, and the Criminal Courts: A Narrative Exploration of Women's Sentencing in Western Australia

Using the focal concerns perspective, this study extends C. Bond and S. Jeffriess (2010) past statistical sentencing research on Indigeneity and gender by undertaking a narrative exploration of sentencing transcripts. In contrast to statistical studies that have explored intersections between gender and race-ethnicity in North America, this Australia-based research suggests that gender does not bypass Indigenous (minority) female defendants. Rather, differences in the sentencing stories by Indigenous status appeared to reduce assessments of blameworthiness and risk for Indigenous female defendants. Furthermore, Indigenous women were viewed differently from non-Indigenous females in terms of social cost (i.e., practical constraints and consequences). These findings suggest a possible explanation for sentencing leniency being extended to Indigenous female defendants.

Who Leaves Suicide Notes? An Exploration of Victim Characteristics and Suicide Method of Completed Suicides in Queensland

The objective of this study is to address the question: are those who leave suicide notes representative of the larger population of those who commit suicide? The method involves an analysis of a full population of suicides by residents of Queensland, Australia for the full year of 2004, with the information drawn from Coronial files. Our overall results suggest that, and in support of previous research, the population who leaves suicide notes are remarkably similar to those who do not. Differences are identified in four areas: first, and in contrast to prior research, females are less likely to leave a suicide note; second, and in support of previous research, Aboriginal Australians are less likely to leave suicide notes; third, and in support of some previous research, those who use gas as a method of suicide are more likely to leave notes, while those who use a vehicle or a train are less likely to leave notes; finally, our findings lend support to research which finds that those with a diagnosed mental illness are less likely to leave notes. The discussion addresses some of the reasons these disparities may have occurred, and continues the debate over the degree to which suicide notes give insight into the larger suicide population.

Protecting Australia's Children: A Cross-Jurisdictional Review of Domestic Violence Protection Order Legislation

Increasingly, domestic violence is being treated as a child protection issue, and children affected by domestic violence are recognised as experiencing a form of child abuse. Domestic violence protection order legislation – as a key legal response to domestic violence – may offer an important legal option for the protection of children affected by domestic violence. In this article, we consider the research that establishes domestic violence as a form of child abuse, and review the provisions of State and Territory domestic violence protection order legislation to assess whether they demonstrate an adequate focus on the protection of children.

Taking the problem seriously? Sentencing Indigenous and non-Indigenous domestic violence offenders

The ‘problem’ of Indigenous domestic violence has become increasingly dominant in populist and government discourse, with the criminal justice system (including the courts) being criticised for the possible lenient treatment of offenders. Using a population of cases sentenced in New South Wales from January 2009 to June 2012, this paper uses multivariate analyses to explore the intersection between Indigenous status, context of violence (domestic vs. nondomestic) and the imprisonment sentencing decision. Results suggest that when sentenced under comparable statistical circumstances, Indigenous domestic violence offenders are equally likely as those convicted of violent crimes outside of intimate/familial contexts to be sentenced to prison. In contrast, non-Indigenous domestic violence offenders are significantly less likely than those convicted of violent offences outside of intimate/familial relationships contexts to be sentenced to prison. Drawing on the focal concerns sentencing perspective, possible explanations for this finding are explored. The tension faced by the courts between the impact of colonialism on Indigenous offenders and their communities, the need to protect Indigenous victims of domestic violence and their communities, as well as overarching expectations around the punitive treatment of crimes of domestic violence are discussed.