Remand

3.35     The prison population typically comprises two categories of prisoners—those who have been sentenced and those who are on remand (remandees). A person on remand has not applied for bail or has been denied bail by the courts and is in prison awaiting either trial or sentence. Bail decision-making is discussed in Chapter 5.

3.36     While equal proportions of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and the non-Indigenous prison populations were on remand (both approximately 30%), Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were over-represented in the remand population on census night—constituting 27% (3,221) of all people in prison on remand.[29]

Trends in remand rates

3.37     The over-representation ratio of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to non-Indigenous people in the remand population has remained fairly static. Since 2010, the rate of remand for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples increased from 249 per 100,000 persons to 432 per 100,000 persons. The remand rate for non-Indigenous people increased from 21 per 100,000 to 38 per 100,000. While the remand prison population has grown over time, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have continued to be over-represented in the remand population by a factor of over 11.

Figure 3.9: Trends in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous rates of remand, Australia (2010−2016)

The data in this bar chart is presented in the table directly below.

 

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

ATSI

249

270

286

293

331

366

432

Non-ATSI

21

23

22

23

25

31

38

Over-representation ratio

12

12

13

13

13

12

11

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Prisoners in Australia, 2016, Cat No 4517.0 (2016) requested table, table 12.[30]

The offence profile of remandees

3.38     The offence profile of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander remandees and non-Indigenous remandee populations are shown in Figure 3.10.  For both groups, the offence category of ‘acts intended to cause injury’ accounted for the largest proportion of remandees (42% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander remandees; 25% of non-Indigenous remandees).

Figure 3.10: Offence profile of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander remandees and non-Indigenous remandees (2016)

The data in this bar chart is presented in the table directly below.

Indigenous status and most serious charge

% ATSI

% non-ATSI

01 Homicide and related offences

3.2

6.3

02 Acts intended to cause injury

41.8

24.8

03 Sexual assault and related offences

7.3

8.4

04 Dangerous or negligent acts endangering persons

2.6

2.4

05 Abduction, harassment and other offences against person

2.4

2.5

06 Robbery, extortion and related offences

9.1

6.2

07 Unlawful entry with intent/burglary, break and enter

13.4

9.4

08 Theft and related offences

4.4

7.1

09 Fraud, deception and related offences

1.2

2.7

10 Illicit drug offences

4.0

19.6

11 Prohibited and regulated weapons and explosives offences

1.1

2.7

12 Property damage and environmental pollution

1.5

1.4

13 Public order offences

0.3

0.3

14 Traffic and vehicle regulatory offences

1.1

0.6

15 Offences against justice procedures, etc.

6.5

5.3

16 Miscellaneous offences

0.3

0.5

Total

100.0

100.0

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Prisoners in Australia, 2016, Cat No 4517.0 (2016) requested table, table 12.

3.39     A more detailed examination of the ‘acts intended to cause injury’ category shows that, irrespective of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status, most remandees were in prison for serious assaults resulting in injury (accounting for 54% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander remandees and 58% of non-Indigenous remandees).

3.40     Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people remain over-represented in all offence types in this category, but especially so in ‘serious assault not resulting in injury’, of which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people constituted 51% of remandees for that offence type. See Table 3.2 below.

Table 3.2: Breakdown of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander remandees and non-Indigenous remandees for ‘acts intended to cause injury’ (2016)

Sub categories of ‘acts intended to cause injury’

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people

Non-Indigenous

 

number and % charged with acts intending to cause injury

% charged with sub category

number and % charged with acts intending to cause injury

% charged with sub category

0211 Serious assault resulting in injury

732

(54%)

36%

1,275

(58%)

64%

0212 Serious assault not resulting in injury

449

(33%)

51%

439

(20%)

49%

0213 Common assault

158

(12%)

28%

405

(18%)

72%

029 Other acts intended to cause injury

13

(1%)

14%

77

(4%)

86%

TOTAL

1,352

(100%)

38%

2,196

(100%)

62%

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Prisoners in Australia, 2016, Cat No 4517.0 (2016) requested table, table 12.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women held on remand

3.41     Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are vastly over-represented in the remand population. The remand rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women (104.3 per 100,000) on census night exceeded that of non-Indigenous women (6.7 per 100,000) and even exceeded the remand rate of non-Indigenous men (69.4 per 100,000). 

3.42     The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander female over-representation ratio (15.7) also exceeded the over-representation ratio of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men (10.9).  See Table 3.3 below.

Table 3.3: Remand rates by gender and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status (2016)

Persons on remand

Male

Female

 

Number

Rate (per 100,000)

Number

Rate (per 100,000)

Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander

2,834

759.7

388

104.3

Non-Indigenous

8,079

69.4

788

6.7

Over-representation ratio

 

10.9

 

15.7

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Prisoners in Australia, 2016, Cat No 4517.0 (2016) requested table, table 4.

3.43     The impact of short prison stays on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, including imprisonment on remand, are discussed in Chapters 5 and 11.