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Rbngrss 2022 (talk | contribs) I've added data from the latest 2020-21 report by the Oz Bureau of Criminology in paragraph 3, consolidated accounts of the lower death rate of Indigenous Australians in prisons and made it into 2 paragraphs |
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The final RCIADIC report, published in 1991, did not find higher rates of death of Aboriginal people compared to non-Aboriginal people; however, it did highlight deficiencies in care, both systemic and individual, and disproportionate rates of imprisonment due to historical and social factors. {{as of|2020}}, Aboriginal people maintain a disproportionate level of exposure to the justice system and [[punishment in Australia|incarceration in Australia]]. One of the recommendations of the RCIADIC was that statistics and other information on Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal deaths in custody should be monitored nationally on an ongoing basis, by the [[Australian Institute of Criminology]] (AIC). As [[Australian census]] and prison statistics include both Aboriginal and [[Torres Strait Islander]] people, the counts have included both groups, as [[Indigenous Australians]].
The Australian Institute for Health and Welfare <ref>{{cite web |title=Indigenous life expectancy and deaths |url=https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-health/indigenous-life-expectancy-and-deaths |website=Australian Institute of Health and Welfare |access-date=29 April 2021 |language=en-
As of June 2021 the AIC had recorded 489 Indigenous deaths in custody since the Royal Commission (June 1991). The majority (65%) had been prison deaths with almost all the rest deaths in police custody or custody related operations<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Doherty |first1=Laura |title=Deaths In Custody in Australia 2020-21 |journal=Australian Institute of Criminology |pages=37 |url=https://www.aic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-12/sr37_deaths_in_custody_in_australia_2020-21_v3.pdf |access-date=21 January 2022}}</ref>. The AIC's monitoring program reports Indigenous Australians have made up 18% of prison deaths <ref name="Deaths in Custody 2020-2021">{{cite journal |last1=Doherty |first1=Laura |title=Deaths In Custody in Australia 2020-21 |journal=Australian Institute of Criminology |pages=35-7 |url=https://www.aic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-12/sr37_deaths_in_custody_in_australia_2020-21_v3.pdf |access-date=21 January 2022}}</ref> and 20% of deaths in police custody or custody related operations <ref>{{cite journal |last1=Doherty |first1=Laura |title=Deaths In Custody in Australia 2020-21 |journal=Australian Institute of Criminology |pages=80 |url=https://www.aic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-12/sr37_deaths_in_custody_in_australia_2020-21_v3.pdf |access-date=21 January 2022}}</ref> in this time. This is well above their proportion in the general population that was 3.3% in the 2016 national census <ref name="ABS Estimate of ATSI Australians">{{cite journal |title=Estimate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians |journal=Australian Bureau of Statistics |date=31 August 2018 |url=https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-peoples/estimates-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-australians/latest-release |access-date=21 January 2022}}</ref>
Deaths have continued since 1991: between 1991 and June 2020 there have been at least 437 Indigenous deaths in custody (both prison and police). While the majority of deaths occurring in prison custody have been of natural causes (58%), hanging deaths accounted for 32%, but the latter have shown a marked decrease in recent years. Indigenous people are now less likely than non-Indigenous people to die in prison custody.<ref>{{cite web |title=Indigenous deaths in custody: 25 years since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody |date=February 2019 |url=https://www.aic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-05/sb17_indigenous_deaths_in_custody_-_25_years_since_the_rciadic_210219.pdf |website=[[Australian Institute of Criminology]] |access-date=5 April 2021}}</ref> Of deaths in police custody, the total between mid-1991 and mid-2016 was 146, with 47% attributed to accidental death (with most of these happening under police pursuit). 21% were attributed to natural causes, with self-inflicted deaths accounting for 19%. There is, however, a number of cases in which calls have been made for greater scrutiny, as avoidable deaths, such as those of [[Ms Dhu]], Tanya Day, [[David Dungay]] and Rebecca Maher. Additional protests focussing on Aboriginal deaths in custody, accompanied by renewed media attention, were triggered by the [[murder of George Floyd]] in the US as part of the June 2020 [[George Floyd protests in Australia|protests in Australia]].▼
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Aboriginal deaths in custody and [[Indigenous Australians and crime|high incarceration rates]] were originally absent from the [[Australian Government]]'s "[[Closing the Gap]]" strategy. As part of a 2018 pivot to a new phase, the [[Council of Australian Governments]] (COAG) drafted targets to reduce Aboriginal custody rates by 2028.
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