The number of women sentenced to prison in Queensland increased by a staggering 338% over the 14 years to 2019, with Aboriginal women making up a third of cases, according to a new report.
The number of women sentenced to imprisonment more than quadrupled from 485 cases in 2005 to 2,128 cases in 2019, according to the report “Engendering justice”, released on Wednesday by the Queensland sentencing advisory council.
Aboriginal women and girls in Queensland were more likely to be sentenced for nonviolent and minor crimes than non-Indigenous women, the report found.
Of sentenced cases, 31.1% were of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women – almost eight times their level of representation in the general Queensland population the council found, after analysing 14 years of custodial data.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and girls were ending up in jail typically for low-level offences involving the discretionary powers of police, such as “public nuisance” or breach of bail conditions, according to the report.
11% of sentences handed to Aboriginal and Islander women and girls were because they “contravened the direction of a police officer”. By comparison, non-Indigenous women were most likely to be sentenced for drug related offences and theft.
Aboriginal and Islander women and girls were also more likely to receive short sentences – of less than six months – for these offences, but these penalties were found to have exacerbated existing disadvantage and had devastating effects on families. Children were left extremely vulnerable to being removed from their care, the report said.
“Short sentences may result in practical difficulties in providing appropriate mental health and other treatments, and may result in children being taken into child protection as a result of lost housing and employment,” it said.
“Mothering in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures needs to be given specific consideration in the context of criminal justice,” it said.
Aboriginal women often care for both their biological and nonbiological children within extended family and community networks, it said. The higher rate of imprisonment has “significant consequences on their communities and “potentially expose[s] children to risk of neglect, abuse, hunger and homelessness.”
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and girls are highly over-represented in the Queensland criminal justice system, and this has remained relatively unchanged for 15 years, the report found.
While Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and girls make up 4% of the Queensland population aged 10 and above, they represented 31.1% of cases involving a sentenced woman or girl between 2005 and 2019, it said. By comparison, in 21.7% of cases involving a male offender, the person identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander.
The council said the report supports the finding that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander female prisoners are “one of the most psychologically vulnerable groups in the community”.
“Engendering justice demonstrates that comparatively minor offending leads to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and girls being sentenced to imprisonment,” Boneta-Marie Mabo, a Piadram, Munbarra, South Sea Islander woman, council member and chair of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander advisory panel, said.
“The findings highlight the urgency of addressing the disproportionate incarceration of First Nations women and girls in the Queensland criminal justice system,” Mabo said.
