The Punitive Turn in Post-Colonial Sentencing and the Judicial Will to Civilise

Abstract

Australian criminal justice in the twenty-first century has been characterised by a law and order agenda, which has given rise to longer prison sentences. The Northern Territory Supreme Court has justified increased sentences to the risk Indigenous cultures and customary laws present to victims and the safety of the community. This article focuses on the punitive turn for Indigenous offenders delivered by the Northern Territory Supreme Court over the past decade and since accommodated by Federal legislative amendments that outlaw cultural and customary law factors in sentencing