Key points:
- An expert report reveals Aboriginal young people on bail in NSW are being targeted by police through intrusive and disruptive checks at their homes.
- The Justice and Equity Centre is representing two Aboriginal brothers in a racial discrimination complaint after they were subjected to more than one hundred and fifty checks at their home over a 20-month period.
- This expert report comes just weeks after the police watchdog found ‘a powerful argument’ that bail checks without court authorisation or reasonable suspicion of a breach of bail are unlawful and called on NSW Police to stop these checks.
An expert report commissioned by the Justice and Equity Centre (JEC) reveals discriminatory patterns in NSW Police use of ‘bail compliance checks’ on children and young people.
Academics Don Weatherburn and Anna Ferrante reviewed data supplied by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research recording how often NSW Police checked on young people in the first 30 days they were on bail and subject to a bail condition (eg a curfew or required place of residence).
The report finds Aboriginal young people were 11.7% more likely to be checked by police than non-Aboriginal young people.
When checked, Aboriginal young people were subjected to 42% more checks on average than non-Aboriginal young people.
Aboriginal young people were more than twice as likely to be targeted with very frequent bail checks. Nearly one in eight Aboriginal young people were checked 12 or more times, compared to around one in 20 non-Aboriginal young people.
The report will be taken to the Australian Human Rights Commission, where the JEC is representing two Aboriginal brothers in racial discrimination complaints. Over a 20-month period while they were on bail, the brothers and their family were subjected to more than one hundred and fifty intrusive and disruptive checks by NSW Police. There was no bail condition requiring or authorising police to conduct checks. The JEC commissioned the report on behalf of these two clients.
One of the brothers was checked 101 times over a 7-month period, including 20 times in a single month. He was 11 years old, on bail awaiting trial for a minor offence (being a passenger in a stolen car) and did not have a significant history of offending.
This report is released just weeks after the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission found there is ‘a powerful argument’ that bail checks are unlawful unless police have court authorisation or reasonable suspicion of a breach of bail, and called on NSW Police to stop these checks. The LECC noted the ‘intrusive nature’ of compliance checks and emphasised that NSW courts, not police, have been entrusted to decide whether a person on bail should be subjected to checks after an impartial consideration of all relevant circumstances.
Quotes attributable to JEC Senior Solicitor Grace Gooley:
‘This report is further evidence that Aboriginal children and young people are being targeted by NSW Police. It confirms why courts, not police, should make decisions about when to disrupt a household with intrusive checking of young people on bail.’
‘Police can check people on bail when they have court authorisation or reasonably suspect a breach. We’re concerned police are misusing their powers to unfairly surveil Aboriginal young people and their families, further harassing already over-policed communities.
‘Our clients are making these race discrimination complaints after enduring months of relentless and disruptive police checks at their home.’
‘It’s unacceptable that Aboriginal families feel intimidated by police pounding on doors and shining torches through windows in the middle of the night without good reason. Those families have a right to feel safe and secure in their home.’
‘These intrusive checks by police cause distress and trauma, and do nothing to help a young person get on with their life – going to school, playing sport, and being part of their community.’
Background
A copy of the expert report, redacted to protect the privacy of the Justice and Equity Centre clients, is available on request.
Don Weatherburn is a Professor at the UNSW National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre and was formerly Executive Director of the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research.
Anna Ferrante is an Associate Professor at the Curtin University School of Population Health, with expertise in data and statistics.
The family involved in the case are also being represented by the JEC in the NSW Supreme Court, where they are claiming the disruptive home visits amount to trespass by NSW Police.
Media contact: Media and Communications Manager Dan Buhagiar, 0478 739 280
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