ABSTRACT
Why in a book such as this is it considered appropriate to devote a chapter specifically to sentencing? The answer finds its origin in the report of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (hereafter the RCIADIC).1 The RCIADIC was established in 1987 in response to concern regarding the number and frequency of Aboriginal people dying in custody and discontent with official explanations for those deaths. The Commission found, amongst other things, that:
[T]he conclusions are clear. Aboriginal people die in custody at a rate relative to their proportion of the whole population which is totally unacceptable and which would not be tolerated if it occurred in the nonAboriginal community. But this occurs not because Aboriginal people in custody are more likely to die than others in custody but because the Aboriginal population is grossly over-represented in custody. Too many Aboriginal people are in custody too often.2
