Research, Evaluation Policy Analysis of the Aboriginal Justice Plan of New South Wales

Certain action plans have been done to address the problem of unequal protection under the law. One of such action plans is the Aboriginal Justice Plan which is a response to the observed overrepresentation of members of the Aboriginal Community imprisoned for offenses where bail can be made.

The study centers on New South Wales (NSW) where the Aboriginal community is the largest. Statistics and data on the number of offenses by Aborigines and the rest of the population of NSW will be taken and statistical analysis for correlation is performed. The data from NSW shall be compared with data obtained from the Northern Territory where a justice plan for Aborigines is also in order and with other states where there is no such policy.

The study aims to establish a correlation between income and the number of bails given by individuals of the Aboriginal population before and after the justice plan was implemented. The correlation hopes to provide a measure of how effective the justice plan really is in providing equal protection under that law for this community.

Introduction
The criminal justice system should be implemented fairly to all. Unfortunately, there are still cases where there are people who do not receive equal treatment and consideration in the court. The government recognizes this fact and have exerted efforts to bridge the gaps and patch up the holes that exist that prevents the law from protecting everyone under its jurisdiction. Government efforts include the formation of the law enforcement agencies, policy making bodies and several support organizations that ensure that these laws are carried out. They must be able to recognize any flaws and try to correct and intervene regarding the shortcomings that current legislations may have brought about in the criminal justice system.  These organizations and agencies often take action by formulating policies and support systems for the better implementation of laws for them to be able to protect and serve the people better. One of the most comprehensive intervention programs to be implemented in the country is the Aboriginal Justice Plan developed by the Aboriginal Justice Advisory Council (AJAC, 2005). 

Intervention Program
According to Cunneen (2005), the over-representation of the Aborigines in the justice system was ascribed to the criminality of the indigenous people, but through continuous observation and research, it has been noted that there is another reason for this effect. There are inherent biases in the current justice system and these biases were termed as systemic biases. These biases are the ones that disallow the indigenous from accessing the same protection from the law and this causes their overrepresentation in criminal and offense records.

Because of these findings, the government has started to formulate strategies that aim to eliminate or reduce these systemic biases in order to make the rule of law available to protect everyone. The Aboriginal Justice Plan, was one such strategy. The AJP is a comprehensive strategy that addresses the innate disadvantages of the Aboriginal people in New South Wales (AJAC, 2005), was implemented in the region in the year 2004.  This plan is implemented under the recognition of the government that Aborigines have areas of natural sensitivity and vulnerability when it comes to the implementation of criminal laws. One of the areas that have been identified as socio-economic factors that influence their vulnerability is income and their lifestyle and culture (AJAC, 2005). The Aboriginal Justice Plan was implemented with the aim of reducing the number of arrests made on the individuals of the Aboriginal community who, due to their state, do not receive the full protection and advantage of the laws.

Other than providing assistance to members of the Aboriginal community during their encounters with the criminal justice system and their difficulties in its processes, the justice plan also outlines several preventive means and measures that would help Aborigines cope with the disadvantages they have when it comes to law. This is to create a more long-term solution rather than remaining just an intervention program that aims to deal with the consequences of the problem after it occurs. The Aboriginal Justice Plan aims to create more comprehensive solutions and strategies that address the causes of these disadvantages instead of simply dealing with the effects of these disadvantages (AJAC, 2005).

Low income and their nomadic lifestyle are conditions of Aboriginal people that make it difficult for them to post and be allowed bail in the criminal justice system (Mac William, 2001). The justice plan works by outlining means to provide the Aborigines with better opportunities to improve their living conditions and lifestyle like giving the indigenous a more or less stable source of income. This action would allow members of the Aboriginal community to enhance their financial capability to post bail.  Other concerns like their nomadic lifestyle which clashes with the conditions of the bail process shall also be addressed by providing them with housing.  Because of these actions, members of the Aboriginal community would be empowered to create for themselves means and measures that they can use to experience the same protection of law. 

Implementing such a plan will not only do well to the Aboriginal community, but it will also benefit the governments relationship with the indigenous. Implementing such a policy will help establish good will and strengthen ties (Bennet, 2000).

Research Questions
1.  Does increasing the socio-economic level of the Aboriginal people increase their ability to post bail

2.  Would a comprehensive strategy that addresses both the socio-economic factors of the Aborigines and assistance to better criminal justice system support be better than just providing bail assistance

3.  What issues of the bail laws are being addressed by the intervention programs that would allow Aboriginal community fair treatment

Evaluation Site
The main subject to be evaluated for the study will focus on the statistics and historical data of New South Wales (NSW) on the number of offences where bail can be posted and compare this with the number of offending members of the Aboriginal community who were able to post bail and the number of offending members from the rest of the population that were not able to post bail. Data on the income of the Aboriginal community from census data taken from NSW will also be obtained and become part of the evaluation. With NSW having a high concentration of Aboriginal communities, a national sample may also be gathered to ensure that the number of incidents is not related the concentration of Aboriginal people in NSW.

A parallel comparison can also be made with the Northern Territory where they have implemented a similar comprehensive action plan to address the disadvantage of Aboriginal communities there as well (Northern Territory Government, 2009).  The same data to be taken from NSW shall also be obtained for the Northern Territory. The years where the policy was implemented for each territory (2004 and 2007 for NSW and Northern Territory, respectively) shall be called the marker years. Maker years shall be set for both territories to set a point of comparison to establish if the policy was indeed effective in improving the condition of the Aboriginal community. The time frame from where the data from both territories will come from shall be within 2000-2010 to keep parameters for the comparisons for both territories constant.

The data from each territory shall be evaluated to determine if there is a significant decline in the percentage of the Aboriginal population in correctional facilities with offences where bail can be posted before and after the strategic action plans were implemented. Furthermore, to eliminate the chance that the changes in percentages is influenced by general trends in the crimes committed in the state, the data about Aborigines shall be compared to the general trends of the whole population of NSW from the same time frame. Data on the income of the Aborigines from both regions and other regions with no justice plan in the specific time frames shall also be taken from census offices. The data of NSW shall then be compared with the data from the Northern Territory to provide additional evidence of the effects of comprehensive strategies to address the disadvantages of the Aboriginal people in the criminal justice system. Analysis of the Northern Territorys initial reports can be cross-referenced with the results of the NSW plan in its first few years of implementation.  Finally, to determine whether preventive strategies are effective, a comparison of the data will be made for those states with no known plans to help improve the socio-economic conditions of the Aboriginal communities.  However, it is important that intervention efforts have been done by various organizations in providing aid and support services with Aborigines who have come in contact with the justice system.

Population and Sample
The study will mainly focus on secondary information like statistics, historical information and census reports regarding the Aboriginal community. This information can be gathered from various organizations like the police, correctional facilities, census offices and special organizations like non-government organizations that take care of the Aboriginal community. An adequate to a large sample size can be taken from the NSW region without fear of statistical invalidity and obtaining unreliable results because the region has the most concentration of Aboriginal communities in the country.
As per the variables of this study, the independent variable for this study is the implementation of the Aboriginal Justice Plan which aims to affect the Aborigines socioeconomic conditions and standing in the justice process. The dependent variable is the data reflected in the statistical analysis of the number of Aborigines convicted but got out of a jail because of bail. Mediating variables may include the level of crime in the city during that year in the state, and means to prevent these variables from affecting the results by standardizing the year where the data is to be taken from. This will work to keep other variables constant while focusing on the variables of concern.

The information shall be gathered by requesting for this data from police offices and correctional facilities via formal communication. Other sources of historical information and census reports can be obtained through books, archives and government websites in the internet that authorize the release of these documents to the public.

Working with secondary sources could be either easy or difficult because of the fact that some information can be easy to find others very rare and some are not released to the public.

Data Analysis
The data taken about the number of arrests for offenses where bail can be posted from 2000-2010 will be organized by year and the offenders who were able to post bail will be separated from those who were not able to. These two groups shall then be further segregated into the members of the Aboriginal community and the members of the rest of the population.  The data will be organized and tabulated. The data of the arrests for the years 2004 and 2007 for NSW and Northern Territory, respectively, shall be highlighted as marker years. This method shall be done for the data from both NSW and the Northern Territory.

The data for the Aboriginal Community and the rest of the population shall be organized in simple line graphs to physically see any trends in the number of offenses committed where bail can be posted. Each territory shall have separate line graphs where the marker years shall be given extra attention. Marker years are given emphasis because they are the pivot points for any changes that may occur in the number of offenses in the Aboriginal community as these are the years where the justice plan was implemented for their respective regions.

After this treatment, the data for the Aboriginal communitys income shall then be taken and organized per year and will be juxtaposed with the number of arrests made on the Aboriginal community which is further segregated into those who were able to post bail and those who were not. A correlation analysis shall be performed on the data to spot any trends regarding how the socio-economic conditions of the Aboriginal community affected the number of offenses committed with income as a main factor of measurement. The Spearman correlation coefficient () will be the one specifically applied to this analysis to indicate any positive or negative correlation between income and the number of bails posted by members of the Aboriginal community. The same methods shall be done for the data in the Northern Territory and in other regions where there is no justice plan for Aborigines implemented in order to provide a point of comparison and to further strengthen any point that is made by the statistical correlation.

The dependent variable (number of arrests that were bailed out from) is expected to increase following the improvement of socio-economic conditions of the Aboriginal community through the justice plan. If this is the result that will be obtained from the actual statistical analysis of the data, then it can be concluded that the Aboriginal Justice Plan was successful in providing means through which members of the Aboriginal community can be helped when it comes to their socio-economic standing and in preventing any unequal treatment under the law. This conclusion will imply the fact that for certain communities and groups of people, assistance is necessary and essential to ensure that the law protects them also. This also emphasizes the role of government when it comes to recognizing the short-comings of the rule of law and addressing it accordingly.

Ethics
The study shall be working more with statistics and data from offices and organizations regarding the Aboriginal Justice Plan. No individual Aborigine shall be interviewed for this study and so there is no immediate worry for anyones safety to be compromised in this research.

It is important, however, that the data be obtained legally from their source. The proponent will ensure that all data that will be used in this research will be taken in due process and within bounds of information dissemination and copyright laws. The consent of the offices and agencies will be taken first through professional and official communication and the respective fees, if any, shall be paid duly. Letter of requests duly signed by the proponent, professorresearch adviser or school administrators, if necessary, shall be sent to the persons concerned in the offices.

Other sources of data shall also be explored like archived records in the library and information in credible websites like the official webpage of certain organizations that provide statistical information for public consumption.

All data utilized shall all be credited back to their sources in the final paper work, and the point persons and heads of the organizations involved shall also be mentioned and cited accordingly.Project organization, management, schedule and budget

The project shall be divided into three phases obtaining, organization, analysis. The first phase shall comprise of all actions done to legally obtain the data needed for this project. All forms of correspondence with organizations, access and other means to obtain data shall be done in this phase. The second phase is where all data gathered will be organized according to the plans outlined in the data analysis section. Data shall be taken, tabulated and divided into the appropriate groups needed for the statistical analysis. Data that is unnecessary shall also be taken out in this phase. The third phase is where all statistical analysis will be performed. The construction of graphs and the performance of statistical analysis will be done in this phase.

It is estimated that the first phase of the project will last anywhere from three weeks to a month which is to give adequate time for the correspondence exchange between the organizations or offices concerned  and the proponent of the research. The organization phase is estimated to take anywhere from two weeks and the analysis phase will last for anywhere from two weeks if a computer program is available, or longer if there is none.

Since the research will be working more with secondary sources, the project can be undertaken at a minimum budget.  But an amount of (TO CLIENT please insert amount here) will be allocated for any expenses incurred for fees for data access and other miscellaneous fees for the production of this project (i.e. printing fees).

Conclusion
Laws are to protect everyone without exemption, but sadly, there are cases where this does not happen due to a host of factors like income and other cultural considerations. Such biases are recognized by the government and specific plans of actions are formulated to address this issue. This study shall center on one of the efforts done by the government to provide assistance to members of the Aboriginal community, the Aboriginal Justice Plan. This plan aims to enable members of the Aboriginal community to get equal protection from the law by improving their socio-economic condition. The study will perform statistical analysis to compare the number of offenses committed by members of the Aboriginal community that were bailed out from to their income levels to establish a correlation. This correlation will provide evidence to support actions made by the government to address the over-representation of Aborigines in prison, because they have difficulties in posting bail and providing requirements for bail to be posted.  The study hopes to further strengthen the correlation different states and territories where there is no Aboriginal action plans, and with one where it is existent like the Northern Territory. This is done to provide effective points of comparison and so that the study can provide factual evidence of the effectiveness of their intervention strategies to address the disadvantages of Aboriginal communities when in contact with the justice system.

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