A sexual assault victim sits outside a police station, wanting to make a report but too scared to go inside. At another, a victim of family violence is told there’s not enough evidence to file for an intervention order.
There’s the car-jacking victim who avoids public transport, and even walking to the shop, because the police haven’t caught the attacker – and doubt they ever will.
One woman still has some faith in the criminal justice system – the “one good copper” at her station.
“You got to hope to God he’s on duty that day and I just beg for my copper,” she says.
These stories form part of the first study of First Nations victims of crime in Victoria, to be released Thursday.
Conducted by researchers at RMIT’s Centre for Innovative Justice in partnership with Djirra, Dardi Munwurro and Elizabeth Morgan House Aboriginal Women’s Service, the study found First Nations people are disproportionately victimised but received “inadequate support” throughout the criminal justice process – from reporting to navigating the court system and accessing support services afterwards.
The study, based on long-form interviews with 23 victims, found most had either never reported a crime to police or would not do so again, due to fear of not being believed.
Elena Campbell, associate director of research, advocacy and policy for CIJ, said “almost every participant” interviewed described waiting for what they called a “trump card” – a major act of violence they believed would compel police to act.
“They said they needed either to have an accumulation of experiences or something really, really major to happen to have police listen to them,” said Campbell, a co-author of the report.
“We spoke to a number of women who had endured the most horrific family violence but didn’t go to police until it became life threatening, because they didn’t feel they’d be believed.”
One woman told researchers of how police told her “there’s not enough to warrant an intervention order” when she tried to report family violence.
She described “saving up” experiences of violence to report to police to ensure they would believe her the next time.
“You stop calling,” she said. “You stop telling them. You put up with more abuse. You then save the police for your actual last … trump card. It gets worse and worse. You just stay longer. You put up with more.”
She said she only went to the police “when you know you’re actually going to die right this second”.
Another participant described their “total loss of faith in police”.
“Guaranteed if it would have happened to some rich guy in Toorak, [police] would have been reprimanded, people would have been sacked and straight into court but, because it happened to black people, it’s just brushed under the carpet,” they said.
The report said when Aboriginal victims did report a crime there was a lack of rapport or cultural sensitivity by police during the interviewing and investigation stages.
The court process, meanwhile, was described as “overwhelming and confusing at best and alienating at worst”, with the report finding some victims felt as though they were “on trial themselves”.
Aboriginal victims also found it more difficult to access the state government’s victims’ compensation scheme as it is predicated on reporting to police within a reasonable time frame.
The report said Aboriginal people are two to five times more likely to experience violence (as both victims and offenders) than non-Indigenous Australians.
Nationally, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women were 35 times more likely to be taken to hospital due to family violence-related assaults and five times more likely to be victims of homicide and physical assault.
But the report, commissioned by the Department of Justice, notes the “figures likely under represent the true extent of victimisation due to significant barriers in reporting crimes”, with about 90% of violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women going unreported.
Campbell said this was in part because many Aboriginal women experience family violence at the hands of non-Indigenous men, an issue that will be furthered examined as part of a project by CIJ and Djirra, examining the misidentification of First Nations women as family violence perpetrators.
The report makes several short- and long-term recommendations, including to develop and pilot an alternative, community-based reporting process for Aboriginal victims of crime.
The process could allow victims to report crimes such as sexual offences with community service providers without immediately involving police.
A Victoria police spokesperson said it was “working to build trust with the Aboriginal community”, including through the introduction of mandatory cultural awareness training. They said 85% of police have completed the training so far.
“We have also boosted the number of Aboriginal community liaison officers across the state and launched a refreshed human rights training package for all staff,” they said.
They also noted that the commissioner had last year apologised for systemic racism and discrimination by Victoria police, and committed to 79 actions to reduce over representation of Aboriginal people in the criminal justice system, of which 31 have been completed.
• In Australia, the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. In the UK, call the national domestic abuse helpline on 0808 2000 247, or visit Women’s Aid. In the US, the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines may be found via www.befrienders.org
