Crime and Indigenous People - Literature review Example

Crime and Indigenous People Introduction “The sexual abuse and assaults in Aboriginal communities, and the general violence, are the result not simply of the traditions of violence in Aboriginal society, but more to the point of the terrible violence inflicted on these communities by colonialists, police officers, and the general citizenry in the long orgy of race hatred” (Langton 2008: 231). Sexual abuse and assaults are reported majorly as a big crisis among aboriginal communities gauging on the levels at which they happen across the region. In response to calls from Aboriginal communities for change, a number of territory governments have come up with Task Forces, developed policy documents, and come up with inquiries into the level of the violence (Behrendt 2003, p. 86-117). This Paper is committed in providing an overview of the main findings from recent reports from principal researches into Aboriginal communities. Sexual assault workers across the regions also have documented many issues to ACSSA regarding happenings in their service areas that mainly address sexual assault in aboriginal communities (Cunneen 2006, p. 329-346). The paper in general critically assesses this statement in terms of constructions of deviance, mass stereotyping, otherness, and whiteness providing an analysis of broad literature available to support or denial of the thesis statement above. In analyzing sexual abuse and assaults in Aboriginal communities, it is critical to look into the diversity of peoples that exist within and across the country (Solomos 1991, p. 37-56). Australia is practically a country of many nations where many Aboriginal people reside. These people differ in languages, history and cultures and have been residing within the country for a long period. The communities mark diverse attributes relating to sexual assaults among women and the levels of domestic violence (Moran 2002, p. 1013-1042). The communities are known to have the highest number of reported cases of sexual assaults with statistics showing that in Queensland, the sexual assault rates have increased dramatically within these communities. In 1990, Atkinson Judy, an academician in aboriginal communities, reported that sexual abuse and assaults against aboriginal women and children were on the rise. Other forms of domestic violence too were seen as coming up and increasing at a fast pace (Solomos 1991, p. 37-56). For, ten years, an Aboriginal Women’s Task Force on sexual assault reported that, in Queensland, the reality was that many aboriginal families were trapped in environments where atrocities had become accepted and practiced as normal behavior and a part of the culture of the people and as such, they became an integral part of the socialization (Davis 2007, p. 97-110). After two years, in Australian west, the Inquiry into Response by Agencies of the Government to Complaints of sexual abuse and assaults in Aboriginal communities reported that “the current and available statistics paint a frightening picture of exactly what would be classified as an ‘epidemic’ of sexual abuse and assaults in Aboriginal communities (Cunneen 2006, p. 329-346)” As per Behrendt (2003, p. 86-117) literature review of statistics on sexual assaults both reported and unreported, “subjective evidence, submissions to inquiries as well as major scholarly case studies support the assumption that sexual abuse and assaults in Aboriginal communities occurs at rates exceeding the statistics for non-Indigenous Australians (Hughes 1995, p. 369-388).” In the past 15 years, the voices of academics and activists have been far from silent, and groups have had immense activities on the same, to fight for the rights of the people (Keel 2004, p. 1-22). Aboriginal women particularly have been raising voices in togetherness demanding that governments realize the reality on the ground and consider taking into the cries of the people in matters relating to sexual abuse and assaults in Aboriginal communities (Behrendt 2003, p. 86-117). From their own point of view, “problems like the sexual abuse and assaults in Aboriginal communities are chucked in the ‘too hard basket’ and placed in the dark over long periods of time and practically having no-one to do something about it (Moran 2002, p. 1013-1042). The activists reported that these cases get worse until to a point of becoming crisis and difficult to handle (Sullivan 2006, p. 78-83)”. Their perception was that the laxity of the government to do something about it was the foremost perpetrator of the sexual assaults incidences and other forms of domestic violence (Robinson 2004, p. 75-88). In answering to the calls of the activists, government inquiries, numerous reports, government policies and anti-violence campaigns have come up describing the high levels of destruction in many Aboriginal communities (Solomos 1991, p. 37-56). In writing the paper, a lot has been drawn on the broad literature that outlines some of the many issues that have been identified consistently as necessary in considering when addressing sexual abuse and assaults in Aboriginal communities with a consideration of other forms of violence (Phillips & Bowling 2003, p. 43). Keel (2004, p. 1-22) ascertained that the sexual abuse and assaults in Aboriginal communities is often perpetrated by partners but, on the other hand, there are other vital factors contributing to the same. In 1996, the Aboriginal Council of justice reported that, among the cases reported, 53 per cent of them had the offender as the victim, and 69 per cent of the cases had the offender being a spouse. However, the report indicated that violence between aboriginal people is more likely to inflict on intimates than at strangers and mostly, these forms of violence are not reported to the authorities due to fear (Cunneen 2006, p. 329-346). Behrendt (2003, p. 86-117) added that finding reliable data that show the extent and nature of sexual assault on aboriginal communities is difficult. On the same note, he asserted that all current definitions of sexual assaults used by Australian federal governments include sexual assault practically as a form of violence in the family (Moran 2002, p. 1013-1042). According to aboriginal women workers, trying to locate sexual assault within the language of violence in the family allows workers to discuss regarding sexual assault within the less taboo area of violence (Davis 2007, p. 97-110). However, there is immense tension in this case, and this brings down the efforts of trying to curb the practice (James 1999, p. 16-37). The administration has been dormant in recording the information and the fact that this is not taken as a separate entity or issue make it difficult to handle (Keel 2004, p. 1-22). Literally including sexual assault on the broader family violence concept is a weakness that the government does not handle and therefore, making worse the sexual assault activities (Sullivan 2006, p. 78-83). In other words, the sexual assault hides within the broader statistics and the government has not been doing anything about it. According to the works of Greer and Breckenridge, he was not surprised that, in the way sexual assault is shrouded in secrecy among Aboriginal communities, the acts remain vibrant (Keel 2004, p. 1-22). What was shocking was a report by Watson (1996, p. 107-119) indicating that women in the far northern police regions of Queensland had a higher likelihood of being assaulted sexually than women in the rest of the Queensland state (Queensland Police Service 2003). It was awkward as described by his works showing that the police have a greater role to play in fueling the assaults because they develop a fear in people thus preventing any cases from being reported. An Edie Carter’s report of 1987 was clear that aboriginal Women have been speaking out, and this has been clear that colonial officers, police, missionaries and the general citizenry in the long orgy of race hatred have been outstanding causes of sexual assault among aboriginal communities. The report provided a broad picture of sexual assault in aboriginal communities. Carter had carried out 120 interviews in Adelaide, in which he recorded 59 cases of rape. Among these, ten of the reports were pack rapes that involved 46 rapists (Cunneen 2006, p. 329-346). His research found out that 90 per cent of survivors were women who reported continuous rape over time which they asserted that they could not report because they feared the police. The same report indicated that Fifty-one per cent of assaults in the home. The reported indicated that race was also evident from the same in perpetrating assaults as they involved discrimination (James 1999, p. 16-37). Almost half of the rapes in Carter’s study were on aboriginal women with the report indicating that the reported cases of assault do not explore the race or cultural identity of the victims or even the perpetrators, and this are something that awful fueled the perpetrators of the violence. Without recording the race, Watson (1996, p. 107-119) asserted that it was one way of blinding the people in statistics while the assaults were being continued on the ground. James (1999, p. 16-37) reported that there are Indigenous women being assaulted sexually by non-Indigenous men and yet this has not been reported especially because these men are in positions of power. These therefore, have been the case why women are reluctant to report sexual assault (James 1994, p. 39-52). In terms of reported sexual assault, statistics from the New South Wales Police for the year 2000, indicated that of the 102 assaults against Aboriginal and Torres people 73 per cent of the assaulters were Aboriginal in origin with only 2000 being from the domestic communities statistics which were a misrepresentation of fact on the ground. It was cases of race in making people understand that the aboriginal sexual assaults were carried out in own families and not by the domestic people (Davis 2007, p. 97-110). With the under-reporting of sexual assaults and other forms of violence being common in all communities, Carter (1987) indicated that at least an estimated 88 per cent of people surveyed as having being raped did not report the cases to the police. In the recent times, Denise Lievore (2003) reflected on an overview of go to report the sexual assault. Carter noted that the lack of reliable data was an impediment to taking appropriate measures in handling the issues of sexual assault. James (1999, p. 16-37) was quick to note that the under-reporting of sexual assault cases was being due to strained relationships between the aboriginal communities and the authorities. He asserted that some of the main reasons why aboriginal women continue not reporting sexual assault are among others authority figures intimidation and discrimination by the white people (Lucas 1995, p. 44-59). Added to this was the closeness of communities that led to fear of shame or reprisals (Watson 1996, p. 107-119). He also looked into a relationship of the perpetrator and survivor highlighting that race was a critical factor in sexual assaults (Cunneen 2006, p. 329-346). Among other outstanding issues emerging as perpetrators of sexual assaults include fear and unfamiliarity with legal processes. The Women’s Task Force (2000: 98) reported that: “Many rape cases, as well as sexual assaults, were occurring in a domestic situation, but were rarely identified as rape by aboriginal women or even the courts addressing them as raped (Hall 2010, p.7).” Lievore (2003) asserted that, in many sexual assault instances, they were not appropriately handled by the criminal justice system therefore perpetrating more of the sexual assaults. On the same note, the police data underestimates the rate at which women are abused (Lucas 1995, p. 44-59). Aboriginal women are also over-represented as sexual assault victims in the criminal justice system of the country (Robinson 2003, p. 72-85). The 1996 study by the Department for Women ideally in the New South Wales region further attested to the report by adding that Aboriginal women were at least ten times higher in the likelihood of being sexually assaulted (Phillips & Bowling 2003, p. 43). Lloyd and Rogers (1992), a decade earlier wrote of the specific difficulties that aboriginal rape victim/survivors encountered in Central Australian courts. Owing to this, they advocated strongly that courts should be closed to the public, and that people be given a mandate to accompany women when giving their evidence (Behrendt 2003, p. 86-117). The main argument was for the courts to be more sensitive mainly in culturally aspects and mandate judges to hear anthropological evidence (Hall 2010, p.7). This resulted from the fact that, the courts had been perpetrating sexual acts by not punishing the people responsible and bringing down any evidence of sexual assault or violence against women (Sercombe 1995, p. 76-94). The New South Wales Department for Women report of 1996 further underlined the way barriers to women reporting the assault cases, worked out as perpetrators of the act (James 1994, p. 39-52). The women were seen as facing challenges in giving evidence in court, and they would further suffer practices of discrimination within the criminal justice system and other avenues. Some of the most known avenues included racist, an ignorant culture; and the low credibility of the systems (Robinson 2003, p. 72-85). Davis (2007, p. 97-110) also supported the concept that many aboriginal women were facing alienation culturally in rural New South Wales and were being intimidated by the court system something that forced then to fear reporting any rape or assault cases. It is apparent that any discussion of sexual assault and other forms of violence in contemporary aboriginal communities must also be located particularly within a historical context (Keel 2004, p. 1-22). From major researches on sexual assault abuse of women, it is cleat that most of it also has a colonial background. Experience of colonialism as per Hall (2010, p.7) works indicate that perpetrators of violence against women and assaulters started all the way from the white colonialists. They were reported to have had committed indelible impact on aboriginal communities where they misused their power and influence and assaulted women with the notion that they were above the law. The colonialists are known to perpetrate some aspects that fueled sexual abuse and assaults in Aboriginal communities (Schwartz 2007, p. 162-169). Some of the most common features associated with colonialists include dispossession and marginalization, loss of land and culture, breakdown of kinship systems and other established Aboriginal law, racism, entrenched poverty drug abuse and alcohol (James 1994, p. 39-52). These are some of the principal aspects that influenced the way people behaved and how the issue of assault against women was handled (Khoury 1989, p. 167-187). The colonialist entrenched new cultures that cared less of the morals of the community and therefore, bleaching the respect which the community had for women (Keel 2004, p. 1-22). Davis (2007, p. 97-110) asserted that these colonialists build or established ground for unscrupulous morals that never cared of the reputation of the values of the community and that never condoned assaults, therefore, featuring as principal causes of sexual abuse and assaults in Aboriginal communities (Sercombe 1995, p. 76-94). It is quite clear that the effects of institutionalization as well as policies removal and additionally, the “redundancy” of the traditional male role and status, supported by an aggressive practice of male rights over women made heavy contributions to the fueling of sexual assaults and general violence in aboriginal communities and all these were attributed to the colonialists culture influence (Atkinson 2007, p. 151-162). Conclusion I general, it can be summed up that other than the common perpetrators of sexual assault or general violence among aboriginal communities, there were sweeping assaults inflicted by colonialists, police officers, and the citizenry in the long orgy of race hatred. These main subjects were seen as inflicting sweeping assaults and sexual violence mostly by undermining reports from these victims and in other cases, subjecting them to fear of reporting the cases. The bad relations between the authorities in power have been generally taken to be influencing heavily the persistent occurrences of sexual abuse, assaults and general violence in Aboriginal communities. References Atkinson, J 2007, Indigenous approaches to child abuse’, in Coercive Reconciliation: Stabilize, Normalize, Exit Aboriginal Australia, Eds J. Altman & M. 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