Aboriginal and non-aboriginal deaths in custody, Australia, 1980-1989

This study is one of several studies conducted for a Royal Commission inquiry into aboriginal deaths in custody. The study aims to provide information on deaths which occurred in police and prison custody throughout Australia in the 1980s, in order to place the phenomenon of aboriginal deaths in custody in the broader context of all deaths in custody during the period.

Topics covered include the time, environment and cause of the death, amount of time since the last inspection of the prisoner, responsibility for the death (e.g. suicide, accident), and characteristics of the custody (legal status, number of days in custody, custodial authority). Background variables include age, sex, race (aboriginal or non-aboriginal) and most serious offence of the offender, and geographical location.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, researchers and other users should be aware that material in this dataset may contain material that is considered offensive. The data have been retained because it represents an evidential record of language, beliefs or other cultural situations at a point in time.

In line with normal ADA policy, variables (such as postcode) which could possibly be used to identify individuals have been removed or recoded from the public data file. Much of the original data, however, have been made publicy available by other parties, and if researchers would like to access the original data files, they can contact ADA and make a case for gaining access to these data.

Dataset ID:

au.edu.anu.ada.ddi.00603

Principal Investigator:

Subject:

Legal systems, legal services, legal aid

Keywords:

Health - injuries and accidents

Crime - Rehabilitation

Crime - Imprisonment

Mental Health - Suicide

Document Description

The Document Description consists of bibliographic information describing the DDI-compliant document itself as a whole.

Document Title:

Aboriginal and non-aboriginal deaths in custody, Australia, 1980-1989

Document ID:

au.edu.anu.ada.ddi.00603

Production

Producers:

Producer:

Abbreviation:

Affiliation:

Production Software:

Software:

Software Version:

Release Date:

Production Place:

Australian Data Archive 18 Balmain Crescent Canberra ACT 0200

Production Date:

3 May 1991

Version Statement

Version:

Version 2

Date:

22 Mar 2010

Notes:

This version of the metadata was created when the archive holdings for this study were reviewed in 2010.

Bibliographic Citation:

Biles, D., et al. Aboriginal and non-aboriginal deaths in custody, Australia, 1980-1989 [computer file]. Canberra: Australian Data Archive, The Australian National University, 2010.

Study Description

The Study Description consists of information about the data collection, study, or compilation that the DDI-compliant documentation file describes. This section includes information about how the study should be cited, who collected or compiled the data, who distributes the data, keywords about the content of the data, summary (abstract) of the content of the data, data collection methods and processing, etc. Note that some content of the Study Description's Citation -- e.g., Responsibility Statement -- may be identical to that of the Documentation Citation. This is usually the case when the producer of a data collection also produced the print or electronic codebook for that data collection.

Production

Production Software:

Software:

Version:

Date:

Distribution

Distributors

Distributor:

Abbreviation:

Contact Persons:

Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody Bag 21 Queen Victoria Terrace ACT 2600

Affiliation:

Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody

Depositor:

Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, Bag 21 Queen Victoria Terrace ACT 2600

Affiliation:

Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody

Deposit Date:

Fri, 05/03/1991

Version Statement

Version:

Version 2

Responsibility Statement:

Australian Data Archive

Date:

Mon, 03/22/2010

Notes:

This version of the data was created when the archive holdings of this study were reviewed in 2010. Some variables were removed to protect the confidentiality of individuals.

Study Information

Time Period Covered:

Tue, 01/01/1980 to Sun, 12/31/1989

Country:

Australia

Geographic Area:

National

Geographic Unit:

State

Unit of Analysis:

Individual death

Universe:

All individuals who died in police or prison custody in Australia from 1 January 1980 to 31 December 1989, including deaths in hospital resulting from injuries received in custody

Kind of Data:

census

Methodology

Time Method:

cross-sectional (one-time) study

Sampling Procedure:

no sampling (total universe)

Mode of Data Collection:

Compilation or synthesis of existing material

Type of Research Instrument:

Structured

Weighting:

None

Cleaning Operations:

Random checks were conducted on the data by the archive for missing variable and value labels, out of range values and wild codes, logical inconsistencies, and confidentiality.

Response Rate:

no sampling (total universe)

Class of the Study:

Level 2

Data Access

Access Conditions:

The depositor may be informed (by the archive) of use being made of the data, in order to comment on that use and make contact with colleagues of similar interests.

Citation Requirements:

All manuscripts based in whole or in part on these data should:

(i) identify the data and original investigators by using the recommended bibliographic reference to the data file

(ii) acknowledge the Australian Data Archive and, where the data are made available through the Australian Data Archive by another archive, acknowledge that archive;

Biles, D., et al. Aboriginal and non-aboriginal deaths in custody, Australia, 1980-1989 [computer file]. Canberra: Australian Data Archive, The Australian National University, 2010.

(iii) declare that those who carried out the original analysis and collection of the data bear no responsibility for the further analysis or interpretation of them.

Deposit Requirements:

In order to assemble essential information about archival resources and to facilitate the exchange of information about users research activities, individuals are required to email ADA (ada@anu.edu.au) with the bibliographic details and, where available, online links to any published work (including journal articles, books or book chapters, conference presentations, theses or any other publications or outputs) based wholly or in part on the material.

Disclaimer:

Use of the material is solely at the user's risk. The depositor, The Australian National University and the Australian Data Archive shall not be held responsible for the accuracy and completeness of the material supplied.

Other Study Materials

Related Publications:

Biles, D. et al. 'Australian deaths in custody, 1980-1988: an analysis of aboriginal and non-aboriginal deaths in prison and police custody'. Research Paper No 7, Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, July 1989.

Biles, D. et al. 'Australian deaths in police custody, 1980-1988: an analysis of aboriginal and non-aboriginal deaths'. Research Paper No 10, Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, November 1989.

Biles, D. et al. Australian deaths in prisons, 1980-1988: an analysis of aboriginal and non-aboriginal deaths.' Research Paper No 11, Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, November 1989.

Biles, D. et al. 'Aboriginal and non-aboriginal deaths in custody'. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, 1990, 23: 15-23.