Aboriginal youth with foetal alcohol spectrum disorder and enmeshment in the Australian justice system: can an intercultural form of restorative justice make a difference?

Aboriginal youth with Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) are overrepresented in the justice system. FASD results from prenatal alcohol exposure, and may lead to cognitive, social and behavioural difficulties that increase susceptibility to contact with the justice system. This paper explores the potential contribution of restorative justice in creating diversionary options for Aboriginal youth with FASD, and related cognitive impairments, to prevent enmeshment in the justice system. The lesson from work in Australia and New Zealand is that restorative justice and Indigenous justice are different, but not irreconcilable, projects. We suggest that there is the potential for creating rich intercultural engagement spaces ‘in between’ restorative practices and Indigenous processes: provided that restorative justice – as an essentially Eurocentric paradigm of the Global North – does not attempt to colonise Indigenous justice. An appropriate model would have Aboriginal people engaged in the planning and management of diversionary options, with greater focus on diversion into place-based, Aboriginal owned and managed services. Restorative justice needs to engage with the historical demands of Indigenous peoples for their land and their way of life; though constantly imperilled by forces of neo-liberalism and colonialism, Indigenous peoples remain resilient and provide a vision of an alternative to Euro-modernity.     

Infanticide: is its incidence among postneonatal infant deaths increasing?: an 18-year population-based analysis in California

The decline in the incidence of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and recent recommendations regarding the differentiation of SIDS and child abuse has generated speculation that some cases of infanticide were misdiagnosed as SIDS. The aims of this study were to determine the change in incidences and proportions of postneonatal deaths from all causes, SIDS, and infanticide in California over an 18-year interval encompassing years before and after the Back to Sleep campaign. Selected postneonatal mortality data from 1981 through 1998 obtained from the California Department of Health Services were analyzed and graphically displayed. The total postneonatal mortality and incidence of SIDS deaths per 100,000 live births decreased 45% and 66%, respectively, during the study interval; the incidence of infanticide remained low. The ratio of infanticide to SIDS increased from 4.3 per 100 in 1981 to 10.2 per 100 in 1998. Infanticide deaths, as a percentage of the total number of postneonatal deaths, increased slightly from the first to the second half of the study interval but never rose above 3.2%. It is concluded that this increased percentage is due to a decrease in SIDS deaths and not to an actual increase in infanticide deaths.