T HE N ORTHERN T ERRITORY I NTERVENTION & THE D RIVE TO C ONVICT Thalia Anthony, UTS Faculty of Law Presentation to UWS, 4 April 2012

S CHISM BETWEEN M ORAL P ANIC AND C RIME “Whilst sexual assault and child abuse within [Northern Territory] Aboriginal communities receives the most attention from the media and from government programs, it is the lower level-type offending that is both the most pervasive and the most responsible for criminalization of Aboriginal people … Anecdotally, traffic offences make up the majority of matters before most bush courts” (Report on Taskforce Themis, NAAJA & CAALAS 2009:186, 13).

M ORAL P ANICS [Emerge when] ‘a condition, episode, person or group of persons emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests; its nature is presented in a stylized and stereotypical fashion by the mass media; the moral barricades are manned by editors, bishops, politicians and other right-thinking people’. - Stanley Cohen (2002) Folk Devils and Moral Panics, 3rd ed, Routledge, p1. 3

C OMPARISON OF NT IMPRISONMENT R ATE WITH A USTRALIAN AVERAGE,

S EXUAL OFFENCES INVESTIGATED IN THE N ORTHERN T ERRITORY Offence2003/ / / / / / 2009 Aggravated Sexual Assault Non-aggravated sexual assault Non-assaultive sexual offences against a child Non-assaultive sexual offences, nec 06212n/a TOTAL Sexual offences

TYPES OF NET-WIDENING An increase in the total number of deviants getting into the system in the first place and many of these are new deviants who would not have been processed previously ( wider nets ) An increase in the overall intensity of intervention, with old and new deviants being subject to levels of intervention (including traditional institutionalization) which they might not have previously received ( denser nets ) New agencies and services are supplementing rather than replacing the original set of control mechanisms ( different nets ).

T YPES OF DRIVING OFFENCES COMMONLY POLICED IN I NDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES Driver Licence Offences Vehicle Registration and Roadworthiness Offences: driving unregistered vehicle ; driving an uninsured vehicle ; etc Regulatory Driving Offences: low/mid range drink driving; not wearing seatbelt; failing to stop etc

I NCIDENCE OF YEARLY DRIVING OFFENCES ACROSS THE N ORTHERN T ERRITORY Offence2003/ / / / / /2009 Licence offences Vehicle Registration and Roadworthiness Offences Regulatory Driving Offences, nec (excl speeding) TOTAL Driving offences

C OMPARISON OF R ATE OF DRIVING OFFENCES WITH SEXUAL OFFENCES

P ROPORTION OF D RIVING O FFENCES IN NT P RESCRIBED C OMMUNITIES, 23 M AR –1 J UNE 2010 Community Licence Offence Registration Offence (eg unregister, uninsured, defective vehicle) Regulatory Driving Offence (eg fail to wear seat belt /stop, drive with low or mid-range blood alcohol) Dangerous driving offences Other offences Total offences Percentage of driving offences Ali Curung % Alyangula (Groote Eylandt) % Hermannsburg % Kalkaringi (Dagaragu) % Kintore % Maningrida % Mutitjulu % Nguiu % Ngukurr % Papunya % Wadeye % Yuendumu % TOTAL %

U TILITY OF LAW ENFORCEMENT APPROACH TO DRIVING OFFENDING Increase in road fatalities injuries Little effect on recidivism Lack of facilities for licensing Unregulated car market Socio-economic, geographic and cultural factors preclude use of alternative transport Indigenous resistance and breakdown of laws