WA Indigenous imprisonment rate compared to Australian imprisonment rate

Crude adult imprisonment rates comparing WA Indigenous trends to WA total and Australian total, per 100,000, 1982-2008¹

 

Total

Indigenous

Non-Indigenous

 

WA

Aust.

WA

Aust.

WA

Aust.

1982

142.3

89.8

-

-

-

-

1983

154.2

91.6

-

-

-

-

1984

155

85.6

-

-

-

-

1985

146.5

94.1

-

-

-

-

1986

152.3

97.6

-

-

-

-

1987

149.2

100.8

-

-

-

-

1988

147

100.4

2325

1233.9

-

-

1989

135.6

103.5

2387.2

1204.7

-

-

1990

145.2

112.2

2439

1308.4

-

-

1991

143.3

116

2027.5

1122.1

-

-

1992

154.4

118.3

1955.4

1112.9

-

-

1993

163

119.2

2125.9

1183

-

-

1994

168.6

125.5

2249

1340.8

-

-

1995

170.4

127.3

2287.8

1399.2

-

-

1996

170.4

130.9

2383.9

1517.7

-

-

1997

165.4

134.9

2288.5

1572.2

-

-

1998

174.8

141.1

2,243.7

1,581.8

-

-

1999

222.7

150.7

2,994.8

1,778.3

-

-

2000

224.6

149.7

2,835.7

1,653.2

156.5

122.5

2001

224.0

152.5

2,961.7

1,753.5

152.1

122.8

2002

194.5

150.3

2,350.7

1,732.0

137.5

120.4

2003

197.5

154.9

2,671.5

1,818.0

131.6

122.8

2004

212.6

157.1

3,114.4

1,851.9

134.5

124.3

2005

229.3

162.5

3,502.6

2,021.2

140.3

125.3

2006

227.2

163.4

3,385.4

2,126.9

140.7

125.6

2007

241.9

169.4

3,886.2

2,255.5

141.8

129.2

2008

230.3

168.7

3,556.6

2,223.2

139.1

128.6

¹ Population of imprisonable age 18 years and over

Sources: WA. & Aust. 1982-1997, Carcach, C & Grant, A 1999, 'Imprisonment in Australia: Trends in Prison Populations & Imprisonment Rates 1982-1998,' Australian Institute of Criminology, Trends and Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice, No.130, p.3.
http://www.aic.gov.au/documents/C/C/1/%7BCC182C2A-81F8-4242-9A11-A9A0E97B919D%7Dti130.pdf
WA. Indigenous and Aust. Indigenous rates 1988-1997, Carcach, C, Grant, A, & Conroy, R 1999, ‘Australian Corrections: The imprisonment of Indigenous people’, Australian Institute of Criminology, Trends and Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice, No.137, p.2.
http://www.aic.gov.au/documents/5/1/4/%7B514A1BEC-D92E-4D66-B4BB-84D68BF4CF2E%7Dti137.pdf
WA., Aust., WA. Indigenous, Aust. Indigenous & WA. Non-Indigenous rates 1998-2008, Australian Bureau of Statistics 2008, Prisoners in Australia, Cat. no. 4517.0, DO016_2008, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canberra.
http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4517.0Main+Features12008?OpenDocument

*Age standardised rates take into account the differences in age distribution between Australia's Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations, which crude rates ignore. Because of this, crude rates are likely to overestimate rates of Indigenous incarceration, since Indigenous populations have significantly larger proportions of young people.  ABS age standardised rates begin from the year 2000, and it is believed that ABS will continue to employ this statistical method in the future.  The population standardised against is the Total Australian Estimated Resident Population at 30 June 2001.

Age standardised imprisonment rates by Indigenous status, per 100,000, WA and Australia, 2000-2008

 

WA

Aust.

 

Indigenous

Non-Indigenous

Indigenous

Non-Indigenous

2000

2,131.2

160.8

1264.5

128

2001

2,145.2

150.3

1287.8

123.4

2002

1,718.0

137.5

1283.1

121.8

2003

1,972.0

132.8

1368.4

124.8

2004

2,358.7

136.6

1413.9

126.7

2005

2,697.0

143.9

1560.9

128.8

2006

2,668.4

144.8

1668.2

129.8

2007

3,077.2

146.1

1786.7

133.5

2008

2,827.9

143.1

1769.4

133.3

Source:  Australian Bureau of Statistics 2008, Prisoners in Australia, Cat. no. 4517.0, DO017_2008, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canberra, viewed September 2009, <http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4517.0Main+Features12008?OpenDocument>.
(The National Prisoner Census data collected 30 June each year)