Week 5 Seminar — Indigenous Justice Focus & Assessment 2 Briefing

Administrative & Housekeeping

• Week 5 of ACM102 – officially half-way through the trimester.
• Mid-trimester break next week; teaching pauses but lecturer remains contactable.
• Week 5 seminar delivered from Wurundjeri land (Kulin Nation); continual encouragement for students to identify and acknowledge the custodians of their own locations.
• Reminder that much of the continent remains unceded land; criminology has historically contributed to processes of colonisation and must now engage in critical, de-colonising work.

Assessment Task 2 – Reflective Experience Report

Overview & Rationale

• Weighting: $20\%$ of unit grade.
• Length: $800\text{ words}\ \pm10\% \;(720!\text{–}!880)$.
• Due: Wed 20 Aug, 8 PM (AEST); normal leeway period applies.
• Goal: use personal/educational/work experiences to analyse how they shape an emerging sense of professional purpose in criminology (or broader career).

Use of Generative AI

• Permitted only for brainstorming/planning.
• Must insert formal acknowledgement statement (link on unit site).
• Not allowed for drafting, paraphrasing or editing final prose.

Compulsory Evidence Sources

1. SuperStrong Career Self-Assessment
   • $65$ interest-based questions, hosted on DeakinTalent site.
   • Yields Holland Codes & narrative report you cite to justify strengths/purpose.
2. Deakin Graduate Learning Outcomes (GLOs) – map your experiences/skills to the eight university-wide attributes.
3. Martin H & XDyne D (2025) “You and Your Career” – Office of the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Graduate Employment). Provides theory on career influences & decision-making.
4. Unit materials from Weeks 1, 4 & 5 (especially around careers).

Report Structure – Four × $200\,$word Blocks

Formatting & Support

• Standard Deakin formatting (font, spacing, reference style).
• Rubric, FAQs, exemplar videos, and recorded AT2 drop-in all on Cloud Site.
• Lecturer available during break for clarification.

Looking Ahead – AT3

• Research & Writing Exercise information (instructions, rubric, FAQs) already live for early planners.

Key Seminar Theme – Indigenous Peoples & the Criminal Legal System

Diversity & Country

• AIATSIS Language Map shows hundreds of distinct First Nations language groups; no monolithic “Indigenous culture”.
• Two concepts of "law":
  • L-O-R-E – story, custom, tradition, relational knowledge.
  • L-A-W – formal Indigenous legal systems predating colonial law by $\sim60,000$ years.

Class Reflection on Schooling

• Ratings revealed spectrum from minimal ("one subject 30 yrs ago") to whole-year integrated curricula (history, daily Acknowledgements).
• Common gaps: Stolen Generations, Indigenous astronomy/agriculture, self-determination narratives.
• Highlights need for lifelong, context-specific learning guided by Indigenous voices.

Contemporary Criminological Issues

1. Adult incarceration – severe over-representation.
2. Juvenile incarceration – similar, often harsher impacts.
3. Deaths in custody – >400 Indigenous deaths since Royal Commission (1991).
4. Policing & Court practices – systemic bias, institutional racism, over-policing of certain communities.
5. Historical context of colonisation: genocide, forced removal, dispossession; policing invented & deployed to enforce colonial control.
6. Fractured relationship with CJS – rooted in ongoing harms.

Underlying Factors & Analytical Lenses

• Culture & Tradition – need to understand to interpret behaviours, aspirations, and responses to CJS.
• Systemic / Institutional Racism – repeatedly identified by coroners, academics, and police services themselves.
• Political Narratives – "tough on crime" rhetoric influences legislation (e.g.
  youth bail laws, mandatory sentences).
• Royal Commissions – powerful fact-finding but recommendations not binding; many remain unimplemented (e.g., $237$ recs from 1991 Deaths in Custody report).

Case Study: Don Dale Youth Detention Centre (NT)

• 2016 Four Corners exposed abuses (e.g., spit hoods, tear gas, mechanical restraint).
• 2017 Royal Commission banned spit hoods, urged systemic overhaul.
• 2023 NT Government re-introduced spit hoods and other measures:
  • Claimed staff safety / post-COVID bio-hazards.
  • Underlying drivers: public fear, media pressure, "law-and-order" politics.
  • Highlights disconnect between evidence-based recommendations and political decision-making.

Royal Commissions & Inquiries – Key Examples

• 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody: $237$ recommendations; partial uptake, yet >400 further deaths.
• Don Dale RC (2017) – systemic abuse; many recommendations outstanding.
• Yoorrook Justice Commission (Vic, 2024) – first truth-telling process to formally recognise genocide in Victoria; linked to treaty process and state-level Voice.

Voice to Parliament & Treaty

• Proposed federal Voice (2023 referendum) would provide non-binding advice on legislation affecting Indigenous peoples.
• Victorian model already operational; separate treaty negotiations underway.
• Core principle: decisions about culture/land/law should be led by Indigenous knowledge holders.

Seminar Debate Exercise – Building Arguments

Example Statement: “Stronger laws are needed to protect Indigenous cultural heritage and sacred sites from destruction and commercial development.”

• Arguments FOR
  • Land unceded; cultural/spiritual significance over $\sim60{,}000$ years.
  • Continuing destruction erodes identity, knowledge transfer, and international human-rights obligations.
  • Indigenous self-determination: protection decisions should rest with traditional owners.
• Arguments AGAINST (used by some stakeholders)
  • Economic impact: tourism revenue, local employment, resource extraction.
  • "National interest" or infrastructure development priorities.
  • Existing Western heritage laws considered "sufficient" by opponents.
• Pedagogical point: understanding both sides clarifies policy obstacles and informs strategising for reform.

Pedagogical & Resource Notes

• Indigenous astronomy & agriculture = examples of advanced scientific knowledge ignored by mainstream curricula.
• Lecturer will circulate extra readings (e.g., AIATSIS maps, Yoorrook documents, Indigenous criminology scholarship).
• Suggested self-study:
  • Follow ABC "Back to Nature" and SBS "First Inventors" for applied cultural science.
  • Review coroner findings on systemic racism in NT Police.

Looking Ahead

• Week 6 (after break) – Innovative & Alternative Justice models (e.g., Koori Courts, Community-led diversion, on-country programs).
• Continuous theme: criminology’s responsibility to support de-colonising practices and resist ongoing harms.

Well-being Reminder

• Rest during the break – reflection is impossible without recovery.
• Use downtime to complete SuperStrong, read AT2 resources, and process complex Indigenous justice material at a respectful pace.