1. 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

2. 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).

3. 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

4. C OMPARISON OF NT IMPRISONMENT R ATE WITH A USTRALIAN AVERAGE, 2003-09

5. S EXUAL OFFENCES INVESTIGATED IN THE N ORTHERN T ERRITORY 2003-2009 Offence2003/ 20042004/ 20052005/ 20062006/ 2007 2007/ 2008 2008/ 2009 Aggravated Sexual Assault 304246253277326279 Non-aggravated sexual assault 998575986479 Non-assaultive sexual offences against a child 1511169122 Non-assaultive sexual offences, nec 06212n/a TOTAL Sexual offences 418348346385404360

6. 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 ).

7. 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

8. I NCIDENCE OF YEARLY DRIVING OFFENCES ACROSS THE N ORTHERN T ERRITORY 2003-09 Offence2003/20042004/20052005/20062006/20072007/20082008/2009 Licence offences 307429933074392645895616 Vehicle Registration and Roadworthiness Offences 302628352888586262826774 Regulatory Driving Offences, nec (excl speeding) 42083855428790551022712889 TOTAL Driving offences 10308968310249188432109825279

9. C OMPARISON OF R ATE OF DRIVING OFFENCES WITH SEXUAL OFFENCES 2003-09

10. 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 111480175066% Alyangula (Groote Eylandt) 25351718416248% Hermannsburg 1615114166274% Kalkaringi (Dagaragu) 38 3727018562% Kintore 5391284740% Maningrida 11813412015623% Mutitjulu 18221914310362% Nguiu 1230243020% Ngukurr 167140448046% Papunya 109 1346447% Wadeye 11201328513135% Yuendumu 28161514210259% TOTAL 19018916917607117248%

11. 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