Australia: A criminal justice system weighted against Aboriginal people

This report is based on the findings of an AI delegation which visited Australia in April 1992. The delegation visited 24 police lock-ups, juvenile detention centres and prisons and met several federal and state officials and representatives of non-government organizations. The report covers conditions of detention in police custody and prisons, including Alice Springs Prison; incarceration rates; disproportionate criminalization of Aboriginal people; alcohol-related offences; New South Wales Summary Offences Act, 1988; juveniles and the criminal justice system; over- policing of Aboriginal communities; provoked arrests and police harassment. The appendices list detention centres visited by AI and give some information on non-aboriginal deaths in custody.