Injustice in the criminal justice system
The Yoorrook Justice Commission is looking into the criminal justice system as part of the truth telling process in Victoria.
For First Peoples, the criminal justice system has long been a site of systemic injustice. There is an unbroken line between the criminalisation of First Peoples’ resistance to dispossession at colonisation and the actions, laws and policies in the current criminal justice system.
On this page you will find some of the responses Yoorrook has received as part of its inquiry. If you want to contribute, please make a submission to the Yoorrook Justice Commission.
What Yoorrook heard about the criminal justice system
Criminal Justice System reports, hearings and evidence
View the reports, hearings and evidence Yoorrook collected during the investigation into the criminal justice system.
Yoorrook for justice
The report details extensive systemic injustice, racism, discriminatory laws and policy failures that have, and continue to, cause harm to First Peoples. It highlights that present injustice has deep roots in the colonial foundations of the state.
The report makes landmark recommendations about self-determination for First Peoples in Victoria. First Peoples must have decision-making power, authority, control and resources in the child protection and criminal justice systems as these relate to them. The Victorian Government must uphold its commitment to self-determination through negotiation under the treaty process.
Criminal Justice System
News, Stories and Videos
Videos
10 October 2023
Yoorrook for Justice: Report into Victoria’s Child Protection and Criminal Justice Systems
Following a 12-month inquiry, the ‘Yoorrook for Justice: Report into Victoria’s Child Protection and Criminal Justice Systems’ details extensive systemic injustice, racism, discriminatory laws and policy failures that have, and continue to, cause harm to First Peoples. The report and a full list of recommendations can be found here: www.yoorrookforjustice.org.au
Videos
10 October 2023
Recommendations: Yoorook Report into Victoria’s Child Protection and Criminal Justice Systems
Yoorrook for Justice: Report into Victoria’s Child Protection and Criminal Justice Systems makes 46 recommendations for reform, including clarifying and strengthening the charter of human rights and responsibilities act. The report and a full list of recommendations can be found here: www.yoorrookforjustice.org.au
Videos
6 June 2023
Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police apologises to First Peoples
On behalf of Victoria Police, Chief Commissioner Shane Patton APM apologised “unreservedly” to First Peoples for police actions since colonisation and continuing to the present day. In a hearing at the Yoorrook Justice Commission, the Chief Commissioner said that “as a result of systemic racism, racist attitudes and discriminatory policies of police,’ injustices had “gone undetected, unchecked and unpunished.” He
Videos
6 June 2023
Yoorrook Commissioner Travis Lovett questions the Minister for Police about accountability for deaths in custody
Since this Yoorrook hearing less than two weeks ago, another First Peoples man has died in custody in Victoria. There have now been 34 deaths in custody in Victoria since the 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. Each of those people was loved by their family, friends and community. They are deeply missed. During questioning by Commissioner Travis
Videos
6 June 2023
Tony McAvoy SC questions the Minister for Police about injustices experienced by First Peoples at the hands of police
Yoorrook Senior Counsel Assisting and proud Wirdi man Tony McAvoy SC questioned Victoria’s Minister for Police, the Hon. Anthony Carbines MP, in hearings this month about injustices experienced by First Peoples at the hands of police. Minister Carbines accepted that, for many Aboriginal people, their experience of policing is one in which they are the subject of racial profiling and
Videos
6 June 2023
Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Young People Meena Singh speaks about the meaning of First Peoples culture
Culture “wraps around you. It’s connected to family. It shapes your values, your ideals. To be Aboriginal is to know that you’re from strength, that you’re from resilience, that you’re part of the oldest cultures in the world.” Listen to Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Young People and Yorta Yorta woman Meena Singh speak about the importance of culture to
Videos
6 June 2023
Minister for Police the Hon. Anthony Carbines MP speaks to the lingering colonialism within state organisations
Watch the Minister for Police the Hon. Anthony Carbines MP speak about the challenges of tackling racial discrimination and police profiling of Aboriginal people in Victoria.
Videos
6 June 2023
Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police speaks about independent police oversight
“Police investigating police especially in areas of Aboriginality – I don’t see how we will ever be able to gain the confidence of the Aboriginal community and the faith in the system” Listen to Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police Shane Patton APM discuss what has led him to move positions on independent police oversight at a hearing of the Yoorrook
Videos
6 June 2023
Yoorrook hears about increasing number of First Peoples on remand
In the year ending 2022, 89% of First Peoples in prison in Victoria were on remand, meaning they in custody but unsentenced. Yoorrook heard that many of those on remand may not have received a custodial sentence if found guilty. Most were refused bail due to changes to Victorian bail laws in 2018, which meant repeat non-violent offenders had to
Other information
Criminal Justice System submissions
Make a submission to help Yoorrook recommend changes to right the wrongs of the past and make a better shared future for everyone.
Criminal Justice System Videos
Watch videos showing some of the things Yoorrook was told about the criminal justice system.
The past is the present
Read how the present-day failures of Victoria’s criminal justice and child protection systems for First Peoples are deeply rooted in the colonial foundations of the State of Victoria.