September 28, 2013 marks the 30th anniversary of the death of John Pat, a 16-year-old who died in police custody in Western Australia.
But, as NITV News reports, there are still calls for some of the recommendations of the 1987 Royal Commissioninto Deaths in Custody to be implemented.
Learn more about this important issue with these reports from the SBS News Archive.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that these videos contain images of deceased people, including Eddie Murray, John Pat, Robert Walker, Charlie Michaels, Tony King, Dixon Green, Lloyd James Boney, Alfred Daniel Yock, Cameron Doomadgee – all of whom died in police custody.
September 1986: Aboriginal families tour Australia to publicise the deaths in custody of their sons.
August 1987: Prime Minister Bob Hawke orders a Royal Commission to investigate Aboriginal deaths that had occurred in State and Territory jails. The commission will investigate all deaths in custody between January 1980 and May 1989.
April 1991: The report of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody makes 339 recommendations, including that:
-"a Coroner inquiring into a death in custody be required by law to investigate not only the cause and circumstances of the death but also the quality of the care, treatment and supervision of the deceased prior to death."
-police officers and prison officers should be more sympathetic and less racist,
-law reform should have an emphasis on imprisonment as a last resort,
-self-determination should be paramount for Indigenous Australians.
1993: The Deaths in Custody Watch Committee in Western Australia is set up by a coalition of concerned parties. Its specific aim is to monitor and work to ensure the effective implementation of the findings from the Royal Commission Into Aboriginal Deaths In Custody.
April 1994: Protesters in Sydney and Brisbane renew their calls for the Australian government to adopt the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. Indigenous community leaders claim the recent Criminal Justice Commission (CJC) report into the November 1993 death of Aboriginal dancer Daniel Yock in Brisbane is a "whitewash".
April 2011: SBS's Living Black marks the 20th anniversary of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody with an investigation into where the issue is at in 2011.
September 25, 2013: The Western Australian government is asked to apologise to the family of teenager John Pat, who died in police custody 30 years ago.
September 27, 2013: The West Australian Parliament agrees to make a formal apology to the family of Roebourne Teenager, John Pat who died in police custody in 1983.
THE NUMBERS
According to the most recent publication by the Australian Institute of Criminology, 21 per cent of all deaths in custody between 2008 and 2011 across Australia were Aboriginal (33 of 159 deaths).
According to the report, that is a sharp fall from the number of deaths recorded in the 80s and in the 90s.
