The Yoorrook Justice Commission’s first report has put the state government on notice, calling for urgent reforms and urging Premier Daniel Andrews to live up to his promises without delay.
Standalone criminal justice and child protection systems for Aboriginal Victorians, a ban on the detention of children under 16 and an independent police oversight body are among the sweeping changes proposed in the Yoorrook Justice Commission’s latest report.
Interim agreements formed as part of preliminary negotiations within the statewide treaty process, which is due to commence before the end of this year, could see many of the most urgent changes achieved even sooner, the report says. Aboriginal men, women and children accused of a crime are more likely to be charged and less likely to be given a caution or warning than non-Indigenous Victorians, according to 2022 data released by the Crime Statistics Agency, leading to Aboriginal men and women in the state being more than 13 times more likely to be incarcerated.in Victoria since the landmark royal commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody tabled its final report in 1991.
Strip searches and prolonged lockdowns in prisons would also be banned, while police, lawyers and the judiciary would be culturally trained and encouraged to hand out more cautions and diversions to First Peoples to keep them out of the criminal justice system and focus on rehabilitation.is the first formal truth-telling process of its kind in Australia.
The commission also heard calls from witnesses for greater First Nations authority and decision-making to underpin all reforms to both systems.“First Peoples leaders, organisations and lived experience witnesses are united in their call for self-determination,” the report says. “For the child protection and criminal justice system, this means a fully realised transfer of power to Victorian First Peoples and, while this is being implemented urgent immediate measures.
Sixty-four per cent of young Aboriginal people under supervision within the Victorian youth justice have also had child protection involvement, according to the report.
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