Explanation for the High Rate of Incarceration for Indigenous Women

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Low levels of education also contribute to the high rate of indigenous women incarceration. According to Gray, Hunter, & Lohoar, (2012) indigenous women achieve lower levels of formal education than their counterparts. As education is a key factor contributing to a person’s self-development, low levels of education have serious and long lasting implications for personal wellbeing. Lochner & Moretti, (2004) studies the correlation between education and crimality. They found that education increases the returns to legitimate work, and raises the opportunity costs of illicit behavior. In contrast, even though there is no statistics revealing educational backgrounds of Australian prisoners, Lawrie (2003); Goulding (2004), suggests that indigenous women in the criminal justice system have very low levels of education.

Unemployment is another contributing factor for the high rate of incarceration among indigenous women. According to the Australian Bureau of statistics (2009) the unemployment rate for Indigenous Australians was 18% compared to 5% for non-Indigenous Australians. Similarly, in her survey of indigenous women and incarceration, Lawrie (2003) found that majority of incarcerated women reported being unemployed at the time of their first offence. Additionally, empirical research emphasizes on the fact that criminals do not commit crime due to unemployment, but rather because they are not content with their financial situations. For example, a person may want to purchase a new pair of shoes, but their financial circumstance they not enable them to buy the shoes, therefore this person might seize the opportunity to steal the pair of shoes.

The theory that best explains the disparity between incarceration rates among indigenous people is conflict theory, which was developed by Karl Max. Conflict theory views society on a macro-oriented level. Society is seen as an arena of inequality generating from social change, meaning that it is about majority vs. minority groups Bessant & Watts (2007). The theory provides that when one faces two conflicting cultures, there emerges a weak attachment to laws and regulations. As a result, an individual tends to exhibit deviant behavior Sirhan, Catrin and John, (2016). In Australia, there is a gap between the non-indigenous and the indigenous populations. While the majority of non-indigenous Australians live a better society, most of aboriginals are struggling with significant social and economic problems. This alone provides a rift between the two societies. Women end up exhibiting deviant behavior because there are the ones hit the most Zaplin (1998). From a conflict theory perspective, the high incarceration among indigenous women is the result of disadvantage and inequality. Logical conclusion to this theory is that inequality in social stratification is defined by class.

The social implications for these trends are numerous. High rates of incarcerations among indigenous women lead to risk factors such as health complications. Being exposed to prison environment increases risks in contracting diseases. In addition, their absence from the society makes them miss out on community based health benefits. According to the study of prisoner health, about 74% of the prisoners exhibit mental issues and other health complications Australian Bureau of Statistics (2014). While the women are in prison, their children are more likely to suffer illnesses and even succumb to death since there is no one to take care of them.

Another social problem brought about the indigenous women incarceration is that children are potentially exposed to hunger and homelessness Anthony (2013). While the system seeks to punish law offenders, there are still major implications that cannot be addressed using prison. In fact, incarceration of indigenous women in Australia has done more harm than good. Studies reveal that most of these offenders are likely to go back to their old ways before finding their way back to prison. Over-representation of aboriginal women in prison brands them as the lesser in the society Sijhan, Catrin and John, (2016). Therefore, with such mindset, there will be no significant improvement in their communities. These implications show that imprisonment does little to sort the problem of crime among aboriginals. On the contrary however, there is need to address socio-economic issues among aboriginal community in order to deal with high incarceration on the rise over the years Burchfield and Braybrook (2012).

In conclusion, this paper has evaluated the high rate of incarceration for indigenous women in Australia. In addition, the paper has discussed the contributing factor to the high incarceration of indigenous women, the role of indigeneity for the disparity between female and male indigenous people as well as the social implication for the incarceration trends in terms of the Criminal Justice system. In addition, it has also shown that there are additional social problems as a result.

References

Anthony, T. (2013). Indigenous People, Crime and Punishment, Routledge, Abingdon.

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2007). Prisoners in Australia. Retrieved on 18 April 2016 from http://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/subscriber.nsf/0/2BA146126F0385C8CA2573AF0014C036/$File/45170_2007.pdf

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2012). Prisoners in Australia. Retrieved on 19 April 2016 from http://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/subscriber.nsf/0/24B61FAA213E5470CA257B3C000DCF8A/$File/45170_2012reissue.pdf

Australian Bureau of Statistics (2014). Women in Prison- Crime and Justice. Australian Social Trends, catalogue. No.4102.0. retrieved on 22 April 2016 from http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4517.0Explanatory%20Notes12012?OpenDocument

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Bessant, J. & Watts, R. (2007). Sociology Australia. Crows Nest, N.S.W.: Allen & Unwin.

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Bucks, R., & Deutsch, J. (2014). Effects of poverty on education. International Journal of Human Sciences, 11, (2) 1139-1148. Dio:10.14687/ijhs.v1 1i2.43

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