Citation

Jeffries S, Bond CEW. Aust. N. Zeal. J. Criminol. 2015; 48(4): 463-482.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0004865814554306

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The 'problem' of Indigenous domestic violence has become increasingly dominant in populist and government discourse, with the criminal justice system (including the courts) being criticised for the possible lenient treatment of offenders. Using a population of cases sentenced in New South Wales from January 2009 to June 2012, this paper uses multivariate analyses to explore the intersection between Indigenous status, context of violence (domestic vs. nondomestic) and the imprisonment sentencing decision.

RESULTS suggest that when sentenced under comparable statistical circumstances, Indigenous domestic violence offenders are equally likely as those convicted of violent crimes outside of intimate/familial contexts to be sentenced to prison. In contrast, non-Indigenous domestic violence offenders are significantly less likely than those convicted of violent offences outside of intimate/familial relationships contexts to be sentenced to prison. Drawing on the focal concerns sentencing perspective, possible explanations for this finding are explored. The tension faced by the courts between the impact of colonialism on Indigenous offenders and their communities, the need to protect Indigenous victims of domestic violence and their communities, as well as overarching expectations around the punitive treatment of crimes of domestic violence are discussed.

Language: en