NCJ Number
191064
Date Published
April 2001
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This paper examines the concept of incarceration as an alternative "rite of passage" for young Indigenous males in Australia.
Abstract
The paper draws upon research being conducted in the Northern Territory and examines both anthropological and criminological concepts of rites of passage in relation to young Indigenous males' experiences of incarceration. While findings were preliminary, they suggested that the concept of incarceration as a rite of passage needed to be substantially reconfigured. The paper claim that, while imprisonment can serve as a testing ground for young Indigenous males, it does not replace traditional rites of passage in remote communities. Further, it needs to be recognized as a phase in criminal trajectories characterized by a lack of access to basic social resources. The paper concludes that the issue of whether imprisonment or detention was positive or negative, equivalent to or different from traditional rites of passage, was in the final analysis "nonsensical." Indigenous rites of passage are phenomena in and of themselves, in their own historical, social, and cultural context. These rites are not readily transferable to alternative institutions that have been developed for quite different purposes. References