Overrepresentation of Indigenous Peoples in Incarceration is a Global Concern

The overrepresentation of Indigenous people in incarceration is at epidemic proportions in many regions of the world. In Australia, Aboriginal people make up only 2.3 percent of the total population, yet make up over 28 percent of Australia’s prison population. Aboriginal people across Australia are 14 times more likely to be imprisoned than non-Aboriginals. In Canada, the Indigenous incarceration rate is 10 times higher than for non-Indigenous adults, with Indigenous people making up 4percent of the Canadian population yet making up 23.2 percent of federal inmate population. In the United States, states with high Native American populations also have high incarceration rates. In Montana, Native Americans constitute 6 percent of the population, but 20 percent of the prison population, with Native American women making up 32 percent of the incarcerated women in the state, an incarceration rate 4 times higher than non-Natives. Questions to consider: Why are the rates of incarceration disproportionally high for Indigenous peoples? What can be done to change these grim statistics? - See more at: http://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/overrepresentation-indigenous-peoples-incarceration-global-concern#sthash.QOFGGgnd.dpuf