20 Unfinished business: Koori women and the justice system
Time spent on remand
While at any one time around 30 Koori women will
be in Victorian prisons, many will cycle through the
system multiple times, often on short sentences, or
on remand and then not sentenced.
58
· In 2012, of 67 Koori women on remand, 60 per
cent were released without being sentenced.
The majority were placed on bail.
· Of those that were sentenced to prison, the
highest number received short sentences of
less than three or six months.
59
58
This was the number of Koori women prisoners at
28 February 2013, this number can fluctuate greatly.
59
State of Victoria, Department of Justice, Koori Justice
Unit, above n 8.
If we consider females prisoners as a whole, what
is also clear is that the number released from
prison unsentenced following time on remand
is increasing. The chart below shows that time
spent on remand is also increasing, with a higher
proportion of women spending longer than one
month on remand prior to release unsentenced.
Figure 3 Unsentenced discharges time spent on remand by female prisoners
Females (time spent)
2010-11 Number
2010-11 Proportion
2011-12 Number
2011-12 Proportion
Under 1 month
16
66.7%
24
55.8%
1<3 months
4
16.7%
10
23.3%
3<6 months
3
12.5%
7
16.3%
6<12 months
1
4.2%
2
4.7%
1<2 years
0
0%
0
0%
Total
24
100%
43
100%
Males (time spent)
2010-11 Number
2010-11 Proportion
2011-12 Number
2011-12 Proportion
Under 1 month
55
53.4%
77
55.8%
1<3 months
28
27.2%
46
33.3%
3<6 months
13
12.6%
13
9.4%
6<12 months
4
3.9%
2
1.4%
1<2 years
3
2.9%
0
0%
Total
103
100%
138
100%
Source: State of Victoria, Corrections Victoria, `Indigenous Offenders and Prisoners: Data Report to the November 2012 AJF'
(Presentation to Aboriginal Justice Forum 9 November 2012).