ATS2553 · Indigenous justice in Australia

Overview

The unit introduces you to issues of Indigenous justice and injustice in Australia. This unit focuses on critically understanding the relationship between colonialism in Australia, Indigenous Law and systems of justice and contemporary concerns of injustice. By understanding the role of the criminal justice system in histories of Australian colonialism, you will learn how the criminal justice system has attempted to manage Aboriginal people from the European settlement into the present. Considering crime and criminal justice through a settler-colonial lens, you will learn from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices about experiences of crime and criminal justice, emerging trends in Indigenous justice and consider ways to improve and 'decolonise' current forms of criminal justice. Drawing upon Indigenous perspectives and critical inter-disciplinary work, you will examine topics such as: Indigenous customary law, the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, mandatory sentencing practices, and the policing of public space, language in court systems and Koori courts.

Areas of study: Indigenous cultures and histories Bachelor of Criminology

Offerings

Assessment

The Handbook does not list a final examination among the assessment items. That is not a guarantee there is none.

Within semester assessment: 100%

Assessment details may change. Please refer to the assessment information in Moodle closer to the start of the teaching period.

Requisites

The Handbook lists no prerequisite, corequisite or prohibition for this unit.

Learning outcomes

1. Recognise the ongoing significance of the criminal justice system in Indigenous justice and injustice;
2. Critically engage with concepts vital to Indigenous justice and injustice concerning the operation and structure of the Australian criminal justice system;
3. Communicate in respectful and culturally appropriate and sensitive ways;
4. Reflect on their own connections to critical Indigenous issues;
5. Generate and present respectful scholarship that is informed by Indigenous and non-Indigenous perspectives on racialised inequality within the criminal justice system.

Workload

Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.

Student experience, not official rules. Nothing here changes what the Handbook says.