Diversion programs for Indigenous women

This paper discusses diversion programs available for Indigenous women throughout all stages of the criminal justice system in Australia, New Zealand and Canada and shows that there is a scarcity of programs and reliable information on the effectiveness of such programs. Analysis of data from New South Wales, the Northern Territory and South Australia shows that Indigenous women are between nine and 16 times more likely to offend than non-Indigenous women. They also generally serve shorter sentences than non-Indigenous women, which suggests that they are being imprisoned for more minor offences. More is required to ensure that the experiences of Australian Indigenous women do not remain invisible and their vulnerability thereby perpetuated.