Study Notes on Domestic Violence Policing of First Nations Women in Australia

INTRODUCTION

  • Author: Emma Buxton-Namisnyk, University of Oxford.

  • Scope of Study: Analysis of domestic violence fatality reviews and coronial files for First Nations women killed by male partners from 2006 to 2016 across several Australian jurisdictions.

  • Method of Data Collection:
      - Yarning/interviews with First Nations domestic violence workers, survivors, and Elders.
      - Examination revealed that most women had police contact prior to death, with harmful interactions noted.

  • Key Findings:
      - Police inaction and action can both lead to harms:
        - Inaction: police failures to respond or enforce law.
        - Action: police reinforce state surveillance and criminalization of victims.
      - Analysis contextualized in a neo-colonial framework, highlighting the need for Indigenous self-determination.

CONTEXT OF VIOLENCE AGAINST FIRST NATIONS WOMEN

  • Disproportionate Violence: First Nations women experience significantly higher rates of violence compared to non-Indigenous women:
      - 32 times more likely to be hospitalized due to family violence.
      - 11 times more likely to die due to assault (Australian Human Rights Commission 2020).

  • Demographics: First Nations women represented 22% of domestic violence femicide victims from 2010-2014 despite being 3.3% of the female population (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2018).

  • Historical Context: Domestic and family violence linked to ongoing violence from settler colonization, emphasizing patriarchal shift post-colonization impacting traditional knowledge and lifestyle (Atkinson 1990).

  • Mainstream feminist approaches often overlook underlying colonial violence, emphasizing gender as the primary driver of men's violence against women (Our Watch 2015).

POLICING IN AUSTRALIA

Central Role of Police in Domestic Violence Response

  • Police are considered primary responders to domestic violence due to feminist advocacy emphasizing treatment as crime since the 1970s.
      - Expansion of police powers linked to anti-violence movements with emphasis on criminalization of domestic violence behaviors.
      - Law enforcement practices include enforcing criminal domestic violence laws and civil protection orders.

First Nations Women's Experiences with Police

  • Complexities: Positioning police as domestic violence responders raises concerns for First Nations women:
      - Reports of unfair treatment in enforcing domestic violence laws.
      - Potential negative impacts of paternalistic enforcement and sensitivity to racialized realities.

  • Over-policing: First Nations women's experience of increased policing and incarceration rates.

  • Need for systematic examination of police interactions:
      - Exploration of how policing intertwines with broader colonial processes.

METHODOLOGY

  • Sample: Included all recorded homicides of First Nations women killed by male partners across selected Australian jurisdictions between 2006-2016 (N = 68).

  • Data Sources: Analysis of coronial files and specialist domestic violence fatality reviews.Found correlations between domestic violence-related deaths and police interaction histories.

  • Yarning and Interviews: Conducted with 22 First Nations participants including Edlers, service workers, and survivors of violence. Focus on views regarding police and court responses, as well as participatory rights.

FINDINGS ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE POLICING

Harms of Police Interaction

  • Study results indicate that 88% of First Nations women involved had prior police contact regarding domestic violence.

Types of Police Responses

  • Inaction: Failures to respond to incidents can involve:
      - Police reluctance to act or enforce laws, suggesting systemic apathy.
      - Notably, for three-quarters of the women (N = 50), police did not enforce domestic violence laws during critical incidents.
      - Examples include:
        - Case studies demonstrating officers disregarding visible injuries and criminal suspicion.

  • Delayed Responses: Many First Nations women experienced delays in police attendance, resulting in fatalities before police response (N = 10 cases).

Harms from Police Enforcement

  • Protective Paternalism: Implies that police actions are made against women’s wishes, notably in Protective Orders (N = 12 cases). Women report feelings of reduced agency.

  • State Surveillance: The interactions with police often lead to increased surveillance of victimized First Nations women, which perpetuates further harm.

  • Criminalization of Victims: Documented cases where First Nations women were labeled as offenders during police contact. Approximately 38% (N = 21) previously noted as domestic violence perpetrators.

  • Influencing Perceptions: Racialized narratives constructed around victims influence police actions and perceptions of victim credibility.

POLICY IMPLICATIONS

  • State responses are intertwined with persistent structures of 'settler' colonialism.

  • Findings suggest systemic police apathy towards First Nations victims.

  • Need for reform: Elevating Indigenous self-determination and separating policing from the domestic violence context to avoid surveillance culture and criminalization

  • Calls for better funding for culturally appropriate services that empower First Nations women's rights and decision-making.

CONCLUSION

  • Emphasis on the necessity of integrating Indigenous perspectives into criminological research on gender-based violence.

  • Highlights the ethical responsibility of feminist scholars to engage with colonial impacts in their work.