Aboriginal Over-Representation in Prisons: What Can Be Learned From Tasmania?

• NCJ Number: 138689
• Journal: Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology Volume: 25 Issue: 2 Dated: (July 1992) Pages: 156-168
• Author(s): J J Cove
• Date Published: 1992
• Length: 13 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: Australia
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS.

Annotation

Data from the 1986 census in Tasmania, Australia were used to analyze how the overrepresentation of Aborigines in the prison system has been conceptualized in criminology.

Abstract

Aboriginal overrepresentation is lower in Tasmania than in any other State and is less than half the national level. However, Tasmania is culturally homogeneous both among Tasmanian Aborigines and between them and the wider Tasmanian population, providing an optimal context for isolating the possible effects of social and economic variables that cuts across Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal populations. The analysis reveals that a large proportion of Aboriginal overrepresentation can be understood in terms of gender, age, and socioeconomic status. However, socioeconomic variables have been largely excluded in research on Aboriginal overrepresentation. Instead, discussions of the issue have been influenced by ideology and political interests. Figures, tables, notes, and 37 references