BRISBANE — Thirty years after sweeping reforms were recommended to end the injustice of Indigenous deaths in Australian custody, a spate of recent fatalities and soaring rates of Aboriginal incarceration have highlighted failures to act.
Jailing children as young as 10, persistent racist attitudes and tough law-and-order policies all contribute to what has been called as a “national shame” by Aboriginal leaders.
More than 450 Indigenous fatalities have been recorded since the landmark Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody was published in 1991, including five since early March.
There is now searing anger over the mounting toll — and the fact that no polic…
Keep on reading: Anniversary highlights Aboriginal deaths in custody crisis