Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Imprisonment: the Aboriginal Experience in Western Australia*

Imprisonment: the Aboriginal Experience in Western Australia* 168 (1988) 21 ANZJ Crim IMPRISONMENT: THE ABORIGINAL EXPERIENCE IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA * Richard Midfordt Historical Factors in Establishing the Status of Aborigines Since White colonisation, the underlying assumption in relations between the Aboriginal population and the Australian legal system has been that Aborigines are bound by the same law as the general community. Aborigines were officially recognised as British subjects from 1837 onwards (Little, 1972) with the intention of affording them the protection and rights that went with such status. However, this assumption of equality has tended to overlook the fact that Aborigines were not able to perform equally in a White defined culture. They were bound by laws and rules of behaviour derived from their own cultural tradition; many of which ran counter to concepts in English derived law. A sentiment dating back to Aristotle pinpoints the inherent problems in such an attitude. "It is as unjust to treat unequals equally as it is to treat equals unequally" (Aborigines Welfare Board, 1967). Even if the ideal of equal treatment is accepted, the reality of justice administration in the case of Aborigines since colonisation has often been discriminatory. Eggleston (1976a) states that several factors are responsible for this http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology SAGE

Imprisonment: the Aboriginal Experience in Western Australia*

Loading next page...
 
/lp/sage/imprisonment-the-aboriginal-experience-in-western-australia-8U6RKoz3Sx

References (8)

Publisher
SAGE
Copyright
© The Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology and Authors, 1988
ISSN
0004-8658
eISSN
1837-9273
DOI
10.1177/000486588802100303
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

168 (1988) 21 ANZJ Crim IMPRISONMENT: THE ABORIGINAL EXPERIENCE IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA * Richard Midfordt Historical Factors in Establishing the Status of Aborigines Since White colonisation, the underlying assumption in relations between the Aboriginal population and the Australian legal system has been that Aborigines are bound by the same law as the general community. Aborigines were officially recognised as British subjects from 1837 onwards (Little, 1972) with the intention of affording them the protection and rights that went with such status. However, this assumption of equality has tended to overlook the fact that Aborigines were not able to perform equally in a White defined culture. They were bound by laws and rules of behaviour derived from their own cultural tradition; many of which ran counter to concepts in English derived law. A sentiment dating back to Aristotle pinpoints the inherent problems in such an attitude. "It is as unjust to treat unequals equally as it is to treat equals unequally" (Aborigines Welfare Board, 1967). Even if the ideal of equal treatment is accepted, the reality of justice administration in the case of Aborigines since colonisation has often been discriminatory. Eggleston (1976a) states that several factors are responsible for this

Journal

Australian & New Zealand Journal of CriminologySAGE

Published: Sep 1, 1988

There are no references for this article.