Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody

2025-05-08T12:11:17Z

121.45.50.238: /* Later reviews and analyses */

{{Short description|Australian Royal Commission}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2016}}
{{Use Australian English|date=April 2016}}
{{Bob Hawke sidebar}}
The '''Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody''' ('''RCIADIC''') (1987–1991), also known as the '''Muirhead Commission''', was a [[Royal Commission]] appointed by the [[Australian Government]] in October 1987 to [[Federal Court of Australia|Federal Court]] judge [[James Muirhead (judge)|James Henry Muirhead]]{{nbsp}}{{post-nominals|AUS|QC|size=100%}}, to study and report upon the underlying social, cultural and legal issues behind the deaths in custody of [[Indigenous Australians|Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people]], in the light of the high level of such deaths in the 1980s.

==Background and history==
The Royal Commission was established following public calls for an inquiry into the apparently high number of Aboriginal people who had died while in custody, whether during an [[arrest]] or while under police pursuit, in [[Remand (detention)|pre-trial remand]] or in [[prison]] or [[youth detention centre]].<ref name=rciadiclatrobe/> A campaign was begun by Indigenous activists after the death of 16-year-old [[John Peter Pat]] who died in a police cell in 1983<ref name=wayward>{{Cite book|url=https://aic.gov.au/publications/lcj/wayward/chapter-5-aboriginal-death-custody-case-john-pat|title=Wayward governance: Illegality and its control in the public sector.|chapter= Chapter 5: An Aboriginal death in custody: the case of John Pat|first=P.N.|last= Grabosky|publisher=[[Australian Institute of Criminology]] |date=1989|isbn=0-642-14605-5|series=Australian studies in law, crime and justice | pages=79–92|others=Published online 2017|access-date=8 June 2020}}</ref> but gathered steam when several other Indigenous detainees were found dead in their cells, in circumstances believed to be suspicious by their families. In July 1987 Helen Corbett, a representative of the National Committee to Defend Black Rights (CDBR) took their case to the [[United Nations]], and it was shortly after this that the government acted on it.<ref name=marchetti/>

Announced on 10 August 1987, the Commission was conducted under the ''[[Royal Commissions Act 1902]]''<ref name=rciadiclatrobe>{{cite web | title=Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody: Inquiry| website=The Age of Enquiry|publisher=[[La Trobe University]] | date=13 January 2017 | url=http://www.lib.latrobe.edu.au/research/ageofinquiry/biogs/E000178b.htm | access-date=7 June 2020}}</ref> and various [[states and territories of Australia|state and federal]] legislative instruments, such as [[Letters Patent]], which governed its operation and the appointments and revocations of Commissioners.<ref>{{cite web | title=Search [deaths in custody] | website=Federal Register of Legislation | url=https://www.legislation.gov.au/Search/deaths%20in%20custody | access-date=8 June 2020}}</ref> The [[Northern Territory]] issued its Letters Patent under its ''Commission of Inquiry (Deaths in Custody) Act 1987''. The Commission was established on 16 October 1987,<ref name=marchetti>{{cite journal | last=Marchetti|first= Elena | title=Critical Reflections upon Australia's Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody|volume= 5 |journal=Maquarie Law Journal|pages= 103–122 | via=Australasian Legal Information Institute (AustLII) | date=1 January 2005 | url=http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/MqLawJl/2005/6.html | access-date=8 June 2020}}</ref> to inquire why so many [[Aboriginal Australians]] had died in custody, and to make recommendations as to how to prevent such deaths in the future.<ref name=rciadiclatrobe/>

== Terms of reference and appointments ==
The terms of reference for the inquiry was to inquire into and report on the [[Aboriginal deaths in custody|deaths of Indigenous people in police or prison custody]] or in any other place of detention between 1 January 1980 and 31 May 1989. Initially, it was believed that there were about 44 such deaths to be investigated but later 99 deaths were identified. (Another 25 deaths were held to be outside the Commission’s mandate.) 63 of the deaths occurred while the person was in police custody.<ref>{{cite book | title=National Report, Volume 1. |chapter=Chapter 2.4 Police Custody--Reason For Not Granting Bail | website=Australasian Legal Information Institute | url=http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/IndigLRes/rciadic/national/vol1/43.html | access-date=10 June 2020}}</ref> The original terms of reference limited the inquiry to looking at the individual circumstances of each death, but they were later expanded to include looking at any related underlying social, cultural and legal issues.<ref name=marchetti/><ref name=rciadiclatrobe/> Commissioner Muirhead said that his job entailed not just understanding ''how'' each person died, but ''why'' that person died.<ref name=1.1final>{{cite web | title=National Report Volume 1 - 1.1 The Royal Commission | website=Australasian Legal Information Institute: Indigenous Law Resources| date=1 January 1980 | url=http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/IndigLRes/rciadic/national/vol1/7.html | access-date=8 June 2020}}</ref>

The Commission was established on 16 October 1987. [[Federal Court of Australia|Federal Court]] judge [[James Muirhead (judge)|James Henry Muirhead]]{{nbsp}}{{post-nominals|country=AUS|QC|size=100%}} was appointed Chair of the Commission and initially was the sole Commissioner<ref name=marchetti/> (leading to the Commission sometimes being referred to as the "Muirhead Commission").<ref>{{cite journal | jstor=29766491 | title=Social Justice in the Corporatist Welfare State: An Essay Review on "Aboriginal Deaths in Custody" and "Our Homeless Children" | last1=Havemann | first1=Paul | journal=Social Justice | year=1989 | volume=3 | issue=37 | pages=167–180 }}</ref> At the time, the number of deaths to be investigated were believed to be about 44, but after it was discovered that there was a much larger number of deaths needing investigation, a further five commissioners were appointed:<ref name=marchetti/> D.J. O'Dea; [[Hal Wootten]]{{nbsp}}{{post-nominals|country=AUS|AC|QC|sep=,|size=100%}}; L.F. Wyvill{{nbsp}}{{post-nominals|country=AUS|QC|size=100%}}; [[Elliott Johnston]]{{nbsp}}{{post-nominals|country=AUS|QC|size=100%}}; and [[Patrick Dodson]]. Wootten was a former judge of the [[Supreme Court of New South Wales]];<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/wootten-warns-of-unrealistic-hopes-for-finding-closure-20121113-29aj2.html| title=Wootten warns of unrealistic hopes for finding closure |first=Jonathan |last=Swan |work=[[Sydney Morning Herald]] |publisher=[[Fairfax Media]] |date=14 November 2012}}</ref> and Johnston was a judge of the [[Supreme Court of South Australia]]. Dodson was the only Indigenous Commissioner, but was not legally trained. Johnston replaced Muirhead as the national commissioner on 28 April 1989.<ref name=marchetti/>

Aboriginal activist [[Rob Riley (Aboriginal activist)|Rob Riley]] was appointed Head of the Aboriginal Issues Unit of the Commission until [[Ruby Hammond]] replaced him in 1990.<ref>{{Cite journal|title = International law obligations to provide reparations for human rights abuses|date = 1999|url = http://worldlii.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/MurUEJL/1999/41.html|last = Buti|journal = Murdoch University Electronic Journal of Law|volume = 6|issue = 4}}</ref>

Among the 99 cases investigated by the Commission were the deaths of rugby player [[Eddie Murray (rugby league)|Eddie Murray]] in 1981 at the [[Wee Waa]] police station,<ref name=contents>{{cite web|last=Indigenous Law Resources|first=Reconciliation and Social Justice Library|title=Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody|url=http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/IndigLRes/rciadic/|accessdate=10 June 2020}}</ref> and the [[death of John Pat]], a 16-year-old Aboriginal boy, at [[Roebourne, Western Australia]] in 1983. Commissioner Johnston was critical of the lack of any disciplinary charges against the five officers implicated in the violent death of the Aboriginal boy, calling this "a most unsatisfactory state of affairs".<ref>{{cite web | title=John Peter Pat: 14.1.2: An Overview | website=Australasian Legal Information Institute | date=7 October 1983 | url=http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/IndigLRes/rciadic/individual/brm_jpp/107.html | access-date=8 June 2020}}</ref>

The Commission held [[public hearing]]s and community meetings where deaths occurred, with the Commission conducting internal and commissioned research. It also received submissions from organisations and individuals, including family members of victims, and delivered issues papers (46, of which 21 were produced by the Commission's research unit).<ref name=rciadiclatrobe/>

The Commission's Interim Report was issued on 21 December 1988, and the Final Report in April 1991.<ref name=rciadiclatrobe/>

==Final report==
The Commission's final report was published on the 15th of April 1991,<ref name=contents/> and concluded that the 99 deaths investigated<ref name=abs>{{cite web | title=1301.0: Year Book Australia, 2012: Deaths in Custody | website=[[Australian Bureau of Statistics]] | date=24 May 2012 | url=https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/1301.0~2012~Main%20Features~Deaths%20in%20custody~73 | access-date=10 June 2020}}</ref> were not due to police violence:<ref name="rcdic">{{Cite book |url=http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/IndigLRes/rciadic/national/vol1/54.html |title=National Report, Volume 1|chapter=Chapter 3: The Findings of the Commissioners as to the Deaths |accessdate=2006-05-17 |publisher=AustLII Reconciliation and Social Justice Library |year=1998 |work=Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody}}</ref>
:"... the immediate causes of the deaths do not include foul play, in the sense of unlawful, deliberate killing of Aboriginal prisoners by police and prison officers. More than one-third of the deaths (37) were from disease; 30 were self-inflicted hangings; 23 were caused by other forms of external trauma, especially head injuries; and 9 were immediately associated with dangerous alcohol and other drug use. Indeed, heavy alcohol use was involved in some way in deaths in each of these categories. The chapter concludes that glaring deficiencies existed in the standard of care afforded to many of the deceased".
The report goes on to say that this "in no way diminishes the seriousness of the problem of Aboriginal deaths in custody, nor does it undermine the reasons for the establishment of the Royal Commission. Indeed, the finding that the life styles of the Aboriginal people who died in custody, along with the procedures adopted by custodians and others, are the central determinants of their deaths ...highlights the importance of the Royal Commission' s broad enquiry into the position of Aboriginal people in Australia today and the ways that Aboriginal people are handled by the police and criminal justice systems.<ref name="rcdic"/>

It found that the circumstances of each death were very varied (with 63 occurring in police custody, 33 in prison custody and 3 in juvenile detention<ref name=austliihow>{{cite book | title=National Report, Volume 1 |chapter=1.2.8: How The Deaths Occurred | website=Australasian Legal Information Institute | url=http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/IndigLRes/rciadic/national/vol1/10.html | access-date=21 June 2020}}</ref>), and one cannot point to a common thread of abuse, neglect or racism common to them. There were however facts relating to their [[Aboriginality]] which pertained to their being in custody and how they died.<ref name=1.1final/> It found that "...there appeared to be little appreciation of and less dedication to the duty of care owed by custodial authorities and their officers to persons in custody. We found many system defects in relation to care, many failures to exercise proper care and in general a poor standard of care. In some cases the defects and failures were causally related to the deaths, in some cases they were not and in others it was open to debate...in many cases death was contributed to by system failures or absence of due care".<ref name=austliivol1overall>{{cite book | title=National Report, Volume 1 |chapter=2.1: The Over-All Findings | website=Australasian Legal Information Institute | url=http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/IndigLRes/rciadic/national/vol1/9.html | access-date=21 June 2020}}</ref>

The Royal Commission reported that Aboriginal people in custody died at about the same rate as non-Aboriginal people in custody, but the rate at which they came into custody was much higher, in particular police custody, so the 99 deaths represent that over-representation.<ref name=austliivol11.3>{{cite book | title=National Report, Volume 1| chapter= 1.3: The Disproportionate Numbers of Aboriginal People in Custody | website=Australasian Legal Information Institute | url=http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/IndigLRes/rciadic/national/vol1/12.html | access-date=21 June 2020}}</ref> Aboriginal people's rate of imprisonment was much higher. The RCIADIC report identified child removal (later dubbed the [[Stolen Generations]]) as correlating highly with later likelihood of imprisonment.<ref name=rciadiclatrobe/>

Aboriginal disadvantage is considered: "By all the indicators...Aboriginal people are disadvantaged when compared with any other distinct group in Australian society and with the society as a whole". Factors such as the economic position, health indicators, housing, their access or lack of it to land and employment, education; and the part played by alcohol and other drugs are all discussed in the report.<ref name=austliivol11.3/>

===Recommendations===
In all, there were 339 recommendations made in the report, including:<ref name=recommendpdf>{{cite web|url=http://www.alrm.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Royal-Commission-into-Aboriginal-Deaths-in-Custody-1.pdf |title=National Report Volume 5: Recommendations|author=Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody|date=April 1991| access-date=7 June 2020}} (Also [http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/IndigLRes/rciadic/national/vol5/5.html#Heading6 here])</ref>
*Imprisonment should only occur as a last resort;
*Medical assistance must be called where necessary;
*Better collaboration with Aboriginal communities;
*The initiation of a [[Reconciliation Australia|process of reconciliation between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians]];
*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]], with the count based on a specific definition (Recommendation no. 6);
*Every death in custody in the future, Aboriginal or non-Aboriginal, should be subject to "rigorous and accountable investigations and a comprehensive coronial inquiry", which had not been the case with some of the deaths identified for the Royal Commission.<ref name=austliivol1overall/>

==Legacy==
A related issue, not investigated by the Commission, is the disproportionately high number of Indigenous Australians who come under some form of custody or who are imprisoned under the law. One of the outcomes of the Commission was the establishment of a '''National Deaths in Custody Monitoring and Research Program''' at the [[Australian Institute of Criminology]].<ref name=abs />

The [[Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation]] was created by an [[Act of Parliament]] in September 1991.<ref>{{cite web | title=Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation Act 1991, Incorporating all amendments by legislation made to 18 April 1994| website=Federal Register of Legislation | url=https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2004C03089 | access-date=8 June 2020}}</ref>

The Royal Commission recommended that the offence of public drunkenness be abolished (recommendation 79). By a legislative change in February 2021, Victoria finally decriminalised the offence of being drunk in a public place with effect from 7 November 2023.<ref>{{Cite web |author-last=Sciberras |author-first=Allanah |date=13 April 2023 |title=Public Drunkenness laws to be scrapped in Victoria-Starting from Melbourne Cup day |url=https://www.9news.com.au/national/public-drunkenness-laws-scrapped-in-victoria-from-melbourne-cup-day/07efc467-dc97-474c-91d7-c73fb74fd025 |access-date=1 May 2023 |website=[[Nine News]] |language=english }}</ref> [[Queensland]] will be the only state in Australia that will have a specific offence of public drunkenness.{{Citation needed|date=January 2023}}

==Later reviews and analyses==
Many years after RCIADIC, problems persisted, and various criticisms have been made about the Commission. Some blame the lack of commitment by the various governments to properly implement its recommendations; others blame the Commission, saying it was too constrained by its mandate and so could not possibly have achieved the necessary reforms to tackle the marginalisation of Indigenous people.<ref name=marchetti/>

An in-depth analysis of RCIADIC by Elena Marchetti, Senior Lecturer at [[Griffith Law School]], published in 2005, concludes: "Despite its many flaws – including the fact that legalistic perspectives were generally privileged at the expense of the more non-orthodox points of view – the RCIADIC remains the most comprehensive investigation ever undertaken into the deep disadvantage experienced by Indigenous people as a result of [[colonisation of Australia|colonisation]]".<ref name=marchetti/>

A 2018 review by [[Deloitte]] commissioned in December 2017 by the then [[Indigenous Affairs Minister]], [[Nigel Scullion]], found that only 64% of the recommendations had been fully implemented, and the rate of imprisonment of Indigenous Australians had almost doubled during the 27 years since 1991. It reported that 14% were "mostly implemented", 16% were "partly implemented" and 6% not at all. It also found that monitoring of deaths in custody had decreased nationwide, and the quality of data on police custody was “an ongoing issue”. Prison safety had increased, but more staff were needed for mental and other health issues of Aboriginal prisoners. Regular in-[[prison cell|cell]] checks, particularly in police watch houses, were still deficient in some jurisdictions.<ref name=deloitte>{{cite web | last1=Allam | first1=Lorena | last2=Wahlquist | first2=Calla | title=Indigenous deaths in custody: key recommendations still not fully implemented | website=the Guardian | date=24 October 2018 | url=http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/oct/24/indigenous-incarceration-rate-doubles-since-royal-commission-report-finds | access-date=10 June 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.niaa.gov.au/sites/default/files/publications/rciadic-review-report.pdf|author=Deloitte Access Economics|publisher=Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu|title=Review of the implementation of the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody: Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet|date=August 2018|pages=1–780| access-date=10 June 2020}}</ref> The 2021 paper "[https://caepr.cass.anu.edu.au/news/30-years-royal-commission-aboriginal-deaths-custody-recommendations-remain-unimplemented 30 years on: Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody Recommendations Remain Unimplemented]" by the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research at ANU reviewed the Deloittes report and argued that the scope and methodology of the Deloitte review "misrepresents governments’ responses to RCIADIC, and has the potential to misinform policy and practice responses to Aboriginal deaths in custody".<ref name=ANU>{{cite web | last1=Anthony | first1=T. | last2=Jordan | first2=K. | last3=Walsh | first3=T. | last4=Markham | first4=F. | last5=Williams | first5=M. | title=30 years on: Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody recommendations remain unimplemented | website=Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research | date=15 April 2021 | url=https://caepr.cass.anu.edu.au/research/publications/30-years-royal-commission-aboriginal-deaths-custody-recommendations-remain|access-date=8 June 2021}}</ref>

A 2019 study found that Indigenous people are less likely to die within custody than non-Indigneous people.<ref>{{cite web |title=Indigenous deaths in custody: 25 years since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody |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 |date=February 2019}}</ref> Another study that reviewed quantitative data from 505 public coroner reports, also published in 2019, found that Indigenous people are 'significantly more likely to die in police custody than non-Indigenous people'. <ref>{{cite web|title=Deaths in custody in Australia: a quantitative analysis of coroners’ reports |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10345329.2019.1603831 | date=22 May 2019}}</ref>

As of 19 April 2021, in the 30 years since the tabling of the Commission report in 1991 there have been a further 474 Aboriginal deaths in custody.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Reid |first=Teela |date=2021-04-14 |title=Aboriginal lives ought to matter not only when we die, but while we are alive |url=https://www.theage.com.au/national/aboriginal-lives-ought-to-matter-not-only-when-we-die-but-while-we-are-alive-20210414-p57j63.html |access-date=2023-01-08 |website=[[The Age]] |language=en}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Aboriginal deaths in custody]]
* [[Royal Commission Appointed to Investigate, Report and Advise Upon Matters in Relation to the Condition and Treatment of Aborigines]] ([[Western Australia|WA]], 1934)
* [[Deaths In Custody Watch Committee (WA) Inc]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{cite web | title=Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody | website=Austlii Reconciliation and Social Justice Indigenous Law Resources | date=1991 | url=http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/IndigLRes/rciadic/ |others=Includes links to each segment of the report.|quote=Last updated 29 April 1998. }}

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[[Category:Commonwealth of Australia royal commissions|Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, Royal Commission into]]
[[Category:History of Indigenous Australians]]
[[Category:Indigenous Australian politics]]
[[Category:Penal system in Australia]]
[[Category:Government agencies established in 1987]]
[[Category:Government agencies disestablished in 1991]]

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Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody