Indigenous punishment in Australia: a jurisprudence of pain ?

Fonte: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=MImg&_imagekey=B6WGX-47FFGXG-3-...
Acesso em: 10 nov. 2009.

When considering the nature of indigenous imprisonment in Australia there is a
need to situate the subject in a proper historical and political context. An
understanding of that context is crucial, as the imprisonment of indigenous persons
has been one of the most emblematic representations of the collective disadvantage
of indigenous communities in Australia. The historical and political context is
important because of the enduring nature of overrepresentation of indigenous
persons at all stages of the criminal justice system in Australia (Hinton, 1997,
pp. 111?116; Cunneen and McDonald, 1996, Chapters 2?3; Harding et al., 1995,
Chapter 5; Cunneen and White, 1995, pp. 135?153). In such a context, the
application of the criminal law to, and punishment of, indigenous persons is not the
neutral application of such laws but a process that has a political and historical
significance. In short, indigenous imprisonment cannot be understood in the absence
of those wider power relations that have shaped the nature of the colonial response
to indigenous communities, both historically and as a matter of contemporary reality
in Australia (Cunneen, 2001, pp. 1?9).