Grant 38/08-09: 'Sudanese refugees' experiences with the QLD criminal justice system

CRG Report Number
3808-09

This report represents the outcomes of an 18 month study of Sudanese Australians’ interactions with the criminal justice system in Queensland. The study was conducted across three sites; Townsville, Brisbane, and Toowoomba. The research was structured to address six major aims which focused on the experiences of Sudanese Australians particularly in relation to their interactions with the Queensland Police Service (QPS). This study used a multi-methodological approach and focused on four key approaches to obtain data in order to address the aims: 1) A critical analysis of Australian print media was conducted to ascertain how Sudanese Australians are constructed and how these representations influence community attitudes and government policies; 2) Queensland police were interviewed to gain their perceptions about interactions with Sudanese Australians; 3) Attempts were made to examine quantitative data from police databases to ascertain the extent to which Sudanese are represented in the criminal justice system in terms of whether they were perpetrators or the victims of crime; 4) Finally the voices of Sudanese Australians were harnessed through focus group interviews and surveys from a representative sample of young people, elders and women across the three research sites.