The statistics that Concern custodies are extremely alarming. Interpretations as to what these figures and percentages mean have been variously provided to me. They range from perceptions that Aboriginal people in this State are just more criminally inclined, to the way junior police officers, without a lot of adult maturity, go about their task of targeting Aboriginal people, and asserting their new authority and zeal for law enforcement over their peers in the Aboriginal population. Other views have related to the broader issues of alcohol use, unemployment, lack of educational achievement and matters integral to the disadvantaged social and economic circumstances of Aboriginal people. There were yet other views that concern continuing Aboriginal resistance to non-Aboriginal social, cultural and legal imperatives, and that of not being able to understand that there is only one legal system.
Police have to enforce the law so they are generally hated by younger Aboriginal people.
In my view these explanations, while extremely broad, are not to be dismissed. They are not exclusive but nor are they exhaustive. They most certainly contribute to an understanding of the situation. Until there is a concerted effort to assist those who are working in this area, in a more positive direction aimed at reducing custodies by being more culturally sensitive and knowledgeable, this intolerable situation will continue. Aboriginal societies need to find within their own histories of survival, ways of extricating Aboriginal people out of this tragic situation, a situation which seems to have become more pronounced since the late 1960s.