Understanding Crime and Justice in Torres Strait Islander Communities

Theoretical Criminology

2020

Self Cite

In this article, we seek to chart the place of islands in criminology with respect to both their place- and space-based attributes. We explore the possibilities of island criminology through the case of Pitcairn Island, which in 2004 formed the backdrop for a series of sensational sexual assault trials. The trials thrust the Island, its people, history and customs into the international spotlight, acting as a counter-narrative to the popular mythology of islands as idyllic paradises. This case study provides us with an opportunity to re-examine how fundamental concepts for understanding crime and regulation, such as social integration, community and belonging, and exclusion are practised in the often closed and bounded networks of island ecologies.

Section: Anti-idyll: Towards a Critical Criminology Of Islandssupporting

confidence: 68%

Charting the place of islands in criminology: On isolation, integration and insularity

Theoretical Criminology

2020

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“…From 1939, under the TSI Act (Part III), island councils were elected or appointed by the protector and had local governance powers, including to appoint local community police (Scott & Morton, 2018;Torres Strait Island Community Police, 2007). The TSR island councils were maintained under later legislative changes and, in 1994, the Torres Strait Regional Authority (TSRA) was established under the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission Act 1989 (Cth), alongside regional councils across Australia that gave Indigenous Australians greater (though not absolute) control over the policies that affected them.…”

Section: Australian Policing and Indigenous Peoplesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, to the authors' knowledge, there are no existing studies focusing specifically on policing in Australia's Torres Strait Region (TSR), a remote archipelago situated off the northern tip of Queensland. This article seeks to correct this by examining the nature and implications of policing in the TSR, which is home to around 8103 people, 82% of whom identify as Indigenous (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2016), and who constitute an ethnically distinct group from Aboriginal peoples on the Australian mainland, sometimes being referred to as a 'minority within a minority' (Scott & Morton, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Without uniform I am a community member, uncle, brother, granddad’: Community policing in Australia’s Torres Strait Region

Morton³

2021

Journal of Criminology

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As a palpable legacy of violent colonialism, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (‘Indigenous’) Australians are the most incarcerated peoples in the world. Community policing, which hinges on the development of trusting community–police partnerships, is frequently proposed as a means of reducing this over-representation, but approaches vary and produce divergent outcomes. This article draws on interview data to explore policing in Australia’s Torres Strait Region – a remote archipelago situated off the northern tip of Queensland. A strong commitment to community and hybridised policing approaches likely provide a partial explanation for relatively low crime in the region. However, under-reporting of some offences (e.g. domestic violence) suggests a possible need to overlay alternative approaches that improve access to justice for all victims, especially women. Overall, the Torres Strait Region experience holds possible lessons for policing in Australia’s other remote Indigenous communities, again demonstrating that decolonisation is a critical starting point for addressing over-representation.

“…Scott and Morton (2018) argued that Torres Strait Islander communities are typically rendered invisible in discourses about Indigenous crime, being ‘a minority within a minority’. This article seeks to rectify this by examining the Torres Strait Region’s (TSR’s) unique crime and justice experiences.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This article seeks to rectify this by examining the Torres Strait Region’s (TSR’s) unique crime and justice experiences. The article builds on Scott and Morton (2018) and Staines and Scott (2020), whose studies established that the average rate of reported offences against property in the TSR was lower overall between 2001 and 2018 than in Queensland’s remote Aboriginal communities and Queensland State. The average rate of reported offences against the person in the TSR was also lower overall than in Queensland’s discrete remote Aboriginal communities, though slightly higher than for Queensland State.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Strong communities and justice practices in the Torres Strait Region

Morton

2021

Journal of Sociology

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This article examines crime prevention practices in the Torres Strait Region (TSR), where relatively low crime rates challenge the association of discrete Indigenous communities with crime ‘problems’ and also test other criminological assumptions around crime. Drawing on 27 interviews with justice professionals and social workers in the TSR, we account for the resilience of a ‘shame culture’ in the region, which provides for a high level of social integration and sustains crime prevention practices, such as cultural mediation. Thus, we argue that while economic indicators such as wealth and employment show high levels of disadvantage in the TSR, indicators of strong social capital provide an explanation for low crime rates. We conclude that social capital is translated into local crime prevention practices that are unique to the TSR and reinforce the importance of cultural continuity and autonomy.