The link between Indigenous overincarceration and the problematic effects of colonisation on Indigenous culture, land and communities are well established. Despite the large volume of research on Indigenous people and their involvement within our criminal legal system, as well as many calls for reforms and diversions over decades in the hope of closing the gap on Indigenous offending, there is truly little evidence of privileging Indigenous peoples’ views and perceptions of how to achieve improvements in this area. This presentation prioritises the voices of Aboriginal women and their communities about their unique experiences of accessing services and supports post-release in Perth metropolitan area. Of further importance, the significant role of family and culture in fostering healing and support Aboriginal women post-release are outlined, and the views from service providers of the gaps and barriers within the reintegration space. Through the yarning methodology, stories of post-release women who have remained in the community crime free were thematically analysed. Their unique stories of strength and resilience, provides us with critical insights and lessons of how to achieve improvements in an area of profound costly and inequity.
Presenters
Emma Tufuga
– PhD Reseach Candidate, Murdoch University
Decades of experience working in the community and justice sector in New Zealand and Australia. A 2023 WACSAR (Western Australia office of Crime, Statistics and Research) Recipient. Ms Tufuga is a proud born Samoan woman living on Whadjuk Country for the past 13 years. Ms Tufuga has a strong interest and passion in Indigenous history, society and justice, particularly around Aboriginal people, and their involvement with the criminal legal system. Ms Tufuga is currently a PhD Research Candidate at Murdoch University undertaking a research project- exploring the experiences of Aboriginal women post-release in Perth, and currently a Research Officer for the Beyond Violence Program (Trial of a prison-based prevention program designed for Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal women incarcerated for violent offences in WA) at the National Drug Research Institute at Curtin University, Western Australia. In addition to her roles, Ms Tufuga is also involved in several prison and community national research/projects on Indigenous peoples’ experience with the justice system (Stories that matter) and the experiences of violence among Indigenous women with disability in prisons in WA, as part of the Royal Commissions into violence, abuse, neglect, and exploitation Inquiry.
