Marisela Velazquez, PhD Candidate James Cook University Sentencers’ attitudes toward women in the Criminal Justice System – Explanations for sentencing treatment disparities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous women Marisela Velazquez, PhD Candidate James Cook University

Women defendants Contact with the policing system Offender rate Despite decreases, Indigenous women continue to experience higher offending rates than their non-Indigenous counterparts Women’s offender rate by Indigenous status and selected states/territory (per 100,000 population), 2007-2013   Indigenous 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 Queensland 7,192 7,370 6,707 6,852 7,046 South Australia 8,203 8,453 8,791 8,232 8,600 8,885 Northern Territory 4,294 3,404 3,195 2,674 3,042 3,737 New South Wales 5,591 4,378 4,243 4,090 3,223 3,485 Non-Indigenous 712 724 660 679 680 504 522 551 539 503 506 385 370 366 330 313 380 603 388 417 405 292 381

Women defendants Contact with the policing system Offender rate Current disparities in women’s offending patterns resonates with trends from nearly 20 years ago Dated surveys and other data on police arrests show that Indigenous women are more likely to be arrested than non- Indigenous women Disproportionate rates have long been claimed to reflect the conduct of policing

Women defendants Contact with the policing system Offender rate in Queensland Indigenous women are 10 times more likely to offend that non-Indigenous women: 7,046 vs. 680

Women defendants Contact with the policing system Criminogenic behaviour Crime generally remains non-serious and non-violent (with some increases in violent crimes) Indigenous women show higher proportions of violent offences than non-Indigenous women

Women in the CJS Contact with the court system Finalised Proven guilty Sentenced Selected Higher courts data on women defendants by Indigenous status, Qld. (2009-2012) Selected Magistrates’ court data on women defendants by Indigenous status, Qld. (2009-2012)  Higher Courts Indigenous Non-Indigenous   2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 Number of women finalised (excluding traffic offences) 174 136 142 549 483 399 Indigenous/non-Indigenous women as % of women finalised 21 18 22 66 63 Indigenous/non-Indigenous women as % of Indigenous/non-Indigenous offenders finalised 19 20 14 13 % of Indigenous/non-Indigenous offenders finalised proven guilty 75 79 77 76 78 Magistrates' Courts Indigenous Non-Indigenous    2009-10 2010-11  2011-12  2009-10  Number of women finalised (excluding traffic offences) 5,640 5,261 5,061 11,915 11,368 11,579 Indigenous/non-Indigenous women as % of women finalised 27 28 57 60 63 Indigenous/non-Indigenous women as % of Indigenous/non-Indigenous offenders finalised 45 44 24 25 % of Indigenous/non-Indigenous offenders finalised proven guilty 92 91 89 88 87

Women defendants Contact with the prison system Indigenous women are at present 24 times more likely to be imprisoned than non-Indigenous women The gap in prison rates between both groups of women has widened Women’s prisoner rates (per 100,000 population), 2000 – 2013 Indigenous Non-Indigenous 2013 415 17 2012 405 2011 358 16 2010 374 18 2009 360 2008 365 2007 2006 366 2005 338 2004 301 21 2003 296 20 2002 285 19 2001 294 2000 251

Women defendants Contact with the prison system Indigenous women are more likely to serve time in prison for violent offences than non-Indigenous women Percentage of Indigenous women in prison by most serious offence type, 2007 – 2013   2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Homicide 8 9 7 Acts intended to cause injury (AICI) 30 33 31 35 34 Sexual assault and related offences 1 0.5 0.7 0.6 0.8 Dangerous or negligent acts endangering persons 2 3 4 Abduction and related offences Robbery, extortion and related offences Unlawful entry with intent 14 13 10 11 12 15 Theft and related offences Deception and related offences Illicit drug offences 6 Weapons and explosives offences 0.4 Property damage and environmental pollution Public order offences 0.9 Road traffic and motor vehicle regulatory offences 5 Offences against justice procedures, government security and operations Miscellaneous offences

Women defendants Contact with the prison system Non-Indigenous women have a lower likelihood of serving time for violent offences; instead, increases in illicit drug offences Percentage of non-Indigenous women in prison by most serious offence type, 2007 – 2013   2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Homicide 12 11 13.1 Acts intended to cause injury (AICI) 10 9 Sexual assault and related offences 2 3 3.1 Dangerous or negligent acts endangering persons 1 Abduction and related offences 0.5 0.9 0.8 Robbery, extortion and related offences 7 6 5 Unlawful entry with intent 8 Theft and related offences Deception and related offences 14 15 13 Illicit drug offences 19 22 23 24 25 Weapons and explosives offences 0.4 0.7 0.6 0.3 Property damage and environmental pollution Public order offences Road traffic and motor vehicle regulatory offences Offences against justice procedures, government security and operations Miscellaneous offences

Women defendants All criminal justice jurisdictions Over-representation of Indigenous women across the CJS Patterns of disparities across all CJ jurisdictions is not new Resonates with historical facts of minority women vs white women’s treatment International and across Australia

Indigenous women - Higher courts Emerging research Higher courts – NSW, SA, WA Contradicts historical facts of punitive treatment for minority women Indigenous women are being given lenient treatment for comparable offences Lower likelihood of imprisonment sentences for Indigenous women than non-Indigenous women

Indigenous women – Higher courts Emerging research Judiciary’s assessment of offenders and crime Focal concerns perspectives Blameworthiness Risk/community protection Constraints

Research project Objectives Aim is to gauge sentencers’ explanations for sentencing discrepancies of Indigenous women Two key explanations from criminology will be critically analysed for their applicability to the context of Indigenous women’s sentencing compared with non-Indigenous women’s sentencing in the higher courts in North Queensland    The key questions: Why are the higher courts more lenient toward Indigenous women defendants? If sentencers say that they impose prison sentences as ‘last resort’ for women defendants, why do Indigenous women continue to be imprisoned at such high rates? How have changes in legislation contributed to policy changes on sentencing?

Research project Framework Focal concerns perspective Blameworthiness Risk/community protection Constraints Feminist criminology Women are generally treated more leniently than men due to their criminogenic behaviour Femininity role Advance understandings of how race and ethnic status impacts the treatment of minority women in the CJS

Research project Explanation Positive discrimination – lenient treatment Sentencing decisions may favour Indigenous offenders Product of judicial awareness of the historical inequalities (e.g. colonisation). Sentencers’ response to political and community expectations to reduce Indigenous over-representation

Research project Explanation Differential involvement – punitive treatment Differences in sentencing outcomes may be a function of differences in offending patterns and criminal histories Sentence is not based on Indigenous status (e.g. not race-based discrimination)

Research project Qualitative methodology Interviews Participants – judiciary who presides over cases involving women offenders in the higher courts Semi-structured, open-ended interviews Observations Analyse how gender is constructed in courtrooms Field notebooks will be analysed through thematic coding Analysis of court transcripts Analysis will be from the previous 25 years

Research Analysis of data collection Data collection from interviews, observations, and court transcripts will be analysed through thematic coding Will pair thematic coding with a grounded theory-style coding of themes raised from data Observe for links between punitive and lenient treatment and women’s Indigeneity

Research Qualitative methodology Limitations Sentencers are not the sole factor for women’s treatment in CJS Target group – Sentencers

References Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 2012b. Criminal courts, Australia, 2010-11. Cat no. 4513.0 Canberra: ABS. Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 2013. Prisoners in Australia. cat. no. 4517.0. Canberra: ABS. Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 2009. Prisoners in Australia. cat. no. 4517.0. Canberra: ABS. Bartels, L. (2010). Indigenous women’s offending patterns: A literature review. Research and Public Policy Series no. 107. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology.

Thank you Feedback Questions