Last week marked the first anniversary of the murder of Eric Garner by New York City Police. Garner’s death, followed by that of Michael Brown in Ferguson in August, sparked a national movement of reform for the US justice system.
A year on it looks like the call for change is finally being heard. Now it is worth asking, should Australia follow?
Reform in the US justice system is very much needed. The US ranks high on all of the worst sorts of statistics — from civilians being killed by police to their prison population. These numbers are heavily skewed to blacks and latinos, who both face higher chances of being killed by the police and entering jail than their white counterparts.
A year after Garner’s death and it looks like some change to address these issues may be about to be made. President Barack Obama recently became the first ever sitting President to visit a federal prison, using the opportunity to outline a number of reforms he is using as a key part of his plank for his final years in office. Obama’s plans include restoring voting rights for ex-criminals, reducing and/or eliminating mandatory minimum sentences for drug-related crimes and tackling the extremely high rate of black and hispanic incarceration. And the President is getting support from across the political spectrum, with even the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives lining up to support the changes.
These changes can only be seen as extremely positive. Given that it is worth us opening the discussion of whether Australia should look at similar changes. While not facing anywhere near the same problems as the Americans, the Australian justice system is heading in a very worrying direction.
Statistics from the Australian Bureau of Statistics for example found that while Australia’s prison population is much lower than in the US it is climbing. 2014 marked a ten year high in incarceration rates, and a 10% increase over the past year. These increases are largely due to what Ross Fitzgerald calls the “law and order” auctions at state and federal level — successive Governments trying to outdo each other on tough on crime measures. A key part of this problem has been non-violent drug offences, which are increasingly putting Australians being put behind bars for longer periods of time.
Similar issues with Australian police can also be found. Recent legislation for the Brisbane G20 and Sydney APEC meetings for example have raised genuine concern over the level of power given to our forces. Incidents of police violence, from attacks on revellers at Mardi Gras, the death of a Brazilian teenager in Sydney who was tasered multiple times and the shooting of two indigenous teenagers in Sydney all feel unfortunately similar to what is happening in America.
Yet, it is in the area of race where the Australian justice system looks far too alike to the US. While overall Australian rates of incarceration are much lower than in the states, this is not true for indigenous Australians. While only making up 3% of Australia’s population, indigenous Australian’s represent 28% of our prison population. These incarceration rates are increasingly significantly — a 57% increase in the past 15 years to be exact.
On top of this, indigenous Australians continue to face high levels of violence while in the “care” of our system. High levels of Aboriginal deaths in custody resulted in a Royal Commission in the 1990s, yet numbers continue to rise. Too often these deaths could be avoided, occurring either because of a system that lacks accountability and proper safeguards, or in the worst instances due direct abuse by officers. Indigenous Australians are increasingly being put behind bars an face a growing threat of dying while inside.
A year on from Eric Garner’s death and changes are finally being made in the US justice system. While Australia’s level of incarceration is no where near as high, our problems are slowly becoming just as bad. Indigenous Australians in particular still face extreme rates of incarceration and violence.
It is easy to look across the Pacific Ocean and wonder how the US justice system got so bad. Yet, if we are not careful Australia faces the threat of heading down the same direction. We should take Barack Obama’s lead and fix it before it becomes even worse.
Simon Copland is a freelance writer and climate campaigner. He is a regular columnist for the Sydney Star Observer and blogs at The Moonbat.
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