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Grey, Rosemary; Gardiner, Rhys --- "Community Justice Groups: Bridging the Gap between Indigenous Communities and the Law" [2007] IndigLawB 47; (2007) 6(29) Indigenous Law Bulletin 22

Community Justice Groups: Bridging the Gap between Indigenous Communities and the Law

by Rosemary Grey and Rhys Gardiner

A clear message that came out of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths into Custody[1] (‘RCIADIC’) was that for policy to be developed successfully, input from the Indigenous community was indispensable. The final Report of the RCIADIC tells us:

If there is one lesson we can learn from history, it is that solutions imposed from the outside will only create their own problems. The issue of giving back to Aboriginal people the power to control their own lives is therefore central to any strategies which are designed to address these underlying issues.’[2]

Sixteen years on, Indigenous perspectives are still too frequently ignored. However, the Queensland Government’s Local Justice Initiatives Program represents one area where the Commission’s recommendation has been adopted.[3] Under this program, Local Justice Groups (‘LJGs’), made up of people from the relevant Indigenous community, provide the courts and police with access to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives on the operation of the criminal justice system. The principle is that accommodating the views of the Indigenous community enables a better understanding of Indigenous criminal behaviour. Increased cultural understanding enables more appropriate solutions to be devised for preventing crime and for dealing with offenders.[4]

Case Study: The Coen Local Justice Group

This article follows up on the successes of the Coen LJG, which was first profiled by the Indigenous Law Bulletin in 2001.[5] The results in Coen over the last six years, recorded by the Group’s Coordinator, Rhys Gardiner, are impressive: a sharp drop in rates of police charges for offences against persons; a decrease in the severity of offences against persons resulting in police charges; a reduction in injuries due to domestic violence; and fewer people receiving gaol sentences.[6]

This praise is echoed by Coen’s current Magistrate, Suzette Coates, of the Cairns District Court. She reports:

The Coen Community Justice Group, a cultural cross-section of all the traditional owners of the district, is an outstanding success by the number of defendants who do not appear in our court because of their efforts on the community’s behalf. The lore, law and custom are functioning well.[7]

The main task of the LJG is to provide a pre-sentence report in proceedings involving Indigenous offenders, where there is the risk of imprisonment. The report suggests a sentence which will be culturally appropriate and proportional to the offence. The Magistrate has discretion whether to follow the LJG’s recommendations and to establish the penalty if the offender breaches the LJG’s instructions.

By providing the magistrate with knowledge of the local culture, the LJG helps to overcome the perceived distance between the justice system and the Indigenous people that system affects. Trevor Black, Coordinating Magistrate for Cairns, describes LJGs as

integral to the administration of justice, certainly throughout Cape York Peninsula [because they] guide the presiding judicial officer, who may or may not have some knowledge of cultural mores, in appropriate sentencing discretions relevant to the particular community and the specific offender.’[8]

The LJG’s sentencing report usually reflects a focus on restorative justice, rather than solely punitive justice. The LJG often advises that the offender be sent to work on one of the outstations located outside Coen. By custom, outstations are dry communities. Each outstation has its own economic activity, such as catching feral cattle, in which the offender is expected to work. The family of the offender is allowed to live there too.[9]

The first beneficiary of the LJG pre-sentence report is the offender. Experience has shown that rates of recidivism are lower and chances of reforming are higher when the offender is sent to an outstation rather than incarcerated. Outstations offer more opportunity for reform than prison because the offender remains part of community life and has a chance to contribute meaningfully to that community.

More broadly, the Indigenous community as a whole benefits from the involvement of the LJG because it feels a sense of ownership of the sentencing process. There is an understanding that the LJG program returns a significant amount of authority to the community, and shows respect for Indigenous customs and values. The LJG inspires the Indigenous people in Coen to have confidence in their capacity to have control over their affairs.[10]

Continuing in that direction, the LJG is currently making plans with the Cairns bench to establish a Murri Court in Coen. A Murri Court is a Magistrates Court with the jurisdiction to determine the sentence of an Indigenous offender who has entered a guilty plea. Members of the Indigenous community, including representatives from a LJG, advise the Magistrate about an appropriate sentence. To encourage participation and understanding on the part of the accused, their family, and community members, the process is less formal and more flexible than the usual court proceedings. Magistrate Black says the discussions are well under way and ‘an air of expectation prevails,’ but a cautious approach has been adopted to ensure that the Murri Court and the LJG maintain a good reputation in the eyes of the community.[11]

The LJG also provides some services outside the legal system. Members often act as counsellors or mediators, and with Federal Government funding, the LJG provides a counselling service to people living on the outstations.[12] The LJG is also becoming involved in advocacy for reform of the welfare system, having identified the diversion of welfare payments into gambling and drinking as a primary factor contributing to crime.[13]

The Group’s latest initiative has been to create a women’s shelter in the town. The women’s shelter is a valuable service, but its necessity is a sobering indication that the town’s problems with crime and violence are far from resolved.

Because of the work of the Coen LJG, crime has been reduced, offenders have more of a chance to reform, Indigenous voices are being listened to and the community feels it has greater command over its affairs. The achievements of the Coen Local Justice Group illustrate the continuing importance of the recommendations of the RCIADIC about Indigenous participation in law and government.

Rosemary Grey was recently a social justice intern at the Indigenous Law Centre. Rhys Gardiner is Coordinator of the Coen Local Justice Group.


[1] Commonwealth, Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, National Report, Volume 4, (1991).

[2] Ibid, 2.

[3] Kari M S Kristiansen and Megan Irving, ‘The Coen Local Justice Group: A Community Response to Family Violence in Queensland through the Local Justices Initiatives Program’ [2001] IndigLawB 79; (2001) 5(13) Indigenous Law Bulletin 12, 12.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Emails from Rhys Gardiner to Jacqui Houston (4 October 2006; 29 January 2007).

[7] Report by Magistrate Suzette Coates to Co-ordinating Magistrate for Cairns Trevor Black, email from Trevor Black to Rosemary Grey (24 May 2007).

[8] Email from Trevor Black to Rosemary Grey (24 May 2007).

[9] Email from Rhys Gardiner to Jacqui Houston (29 January 2007).

[10] Email from Rhys Gardiner to Jacqui Houston (4 October 2006).

[11] Email from Trevor Black to Rosemary Grey (24 May 2007).

[12] Email from Rhys Gardiner to Jacqui Houston (29 January 2007).

[13] Email from Rhys Gardiner to Jacqui Houston (29 January 2007).