ROYAL COMMISSION INTO ABORIGINAL DEATHS IN CUSTODY – 20 YEARS ON “NATSILS CALL FOR A FAIR GO”
Posted on Fri 15 April 2011Twenty years after the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (RCIADIC) report was released on 15 April 1991, a significant number of recommendations remain unimplemented and people continue to die needlessly in custody.
“It is unacceptable that governments in this country continue to fail to prioritise or address the ongoing deaths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in custody and that little has changed in the twenty years since the RCIADIC” said Mr. Shane Duffy, Chairperson of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services Forum (NATSILS).
The NATSILS are alarmed by the ongoing deaths in custody and say it is crucial for all 339 RCIADIC recommendations to be implemented immediately. National statistics show that in the land of the ‘fair go’ an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person is 14 times more likely to be incarcerated than a non-Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person. Addressing the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in custody is a crucial step in achieving the aims of the RCIADIC, yet there continues to be an overwhelming lack of effective policies aimed at diverting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples from the criminal justice system.
See attachment for NATSILS media release.
