Judges sentence Aboriginals to 43% shorter jail terms than the rest of the population
If you are an Aboriginal felon then you can expect a jail term 42.8% shorter than a non- Aboriginal convicted for the same offence. The median aggregate sentence length for all offences for Aboriginals is 2 years, versus 3 years and 6 months for non-Aboriginals.
These startling figures, as shown in the table below, validate the public perception that judges are soft on Aboriginal criminals.
Offence | Jail term
Non-Aboriginal |
Jail term
Aboriginal |
Homicide | 14 years | 10 years |
Assault | 2 years 6 months | 1 year 6 months |
Sex offences | 6 years | 7 years |
Other against person | 3 years 3 months | 3 years 3 months |
Robbery | 6 years | 5 years 8 months |
Break and enter | 2 years | 1 year 11 months |
Fraud | 1 year 8 months | 2 years 6 months |
Theft | 1 year | 1 year |
Property damage | 3 years | 9 months |
Justice procedures | 9 months | 9 months |
Good order offences | 4 months | 14 months |
Drug offences | 4 years 6 months | 2 years 3 months |
Driving offences | 6 months | 7 months |
Other traffic offences | 6 months | 8 months |
Other offences | 1 year 4 months | 9 months |
All Offences | 3 years 6 months | 2 years |
Source: Australian Institute of Criminology, November 1999. Data derived from Prisoners in Australia (ABS 1998)