ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the extent to which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people come into contact with the police, the courts and the prison system-in other words, the extent to which Indigenous people are subjected to the formal processes of criminalisation. It considers possible explanations for Indigenous offending with a particular emphasis on the extent to which policing interacts with and contributes to the high level of Indigenous criminalisation. Police are usually the first point of contact with the criminal justice system, and it is a reasonable place to begin assessing the extent of Aboriginal criminalisation. The number of Indigenous people in police custody is one measure of the degree of criminalisation. Data on imprisonment provides another measure of criminalisation, at the extreme end of the process. The police role is the one most directly connected to the production of knowledge about offending patterns of individuals or groups.
