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Understanding Crime and Justice in Torres Strait Islander Communities

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Abstract

Questions of race and crime in Australia largely revolve around indigenous peoples. Australian criminologists cannot escape racial terminology which divides the population into groupings and largely ignores the complex ways in which Indigenous justice is experienced and practiced in diverse contexts. While there has been much research into Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) crime and justice, previous research draws exclusively on mainland peoples who are culturally distinct from Torres Strait Islander peoples. Further, as a distinct setting, the Torres Strait Islands offer a unique opportunity to observe how justice is practiced in remote contexts. Drawing on statistical data from the Torres Strait Region, we argue that relatively low crime rates in the region may be linked to numerous indicators of social capital in the region.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

    John Scott

  2. Queensland Magistrate, Mount Isa, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

    James Morton

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  1. John Scott
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

    Kerry Carrington

  2. Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

    Russell Hogg

  3. Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

    John Scott

  4. National University of Litoral Santa Fe, Santa Fe, Argentina

    Máximo Sozzo

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Scott, J., Morton, J. (2018). Understanding Crime and Justice in Torres Strait Islander Communities. In: Carrington, K., Hogg, R., Scott, J., Sozzo, M. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Criminology and the Global South. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65021-0_29

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65021-0_29

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-65021-0

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