The glossary provides definitions of data items presented on the Deaths in custody in Australia real-time dashboard and quarterly dashboard. Custody type, Indigenous status and sex are presented on both dashboards. Manner of death, legal status and method of detainment are presented on the quarterly dashboard only.
Custody type
Prison custody
Deaths in prison custody include deaths that occur in prison or youth detention facilities. This also includes the deaths that occur during transfer to or from prison or youth detention centres, or in medical facilities following transfer from adult or youth detention centres (RCIADIC 1991).
Police custody
The definition of a death in police custody is based on a 1994 resolution of the Australasian Police Ministers’ Council. Deaths in police custody are divided into two main categories.
Category 1
(a) Deaths in institutional settings (eg police stations or lock-ups, police vehicles, during transfer to or from such an institution, or in hospitals following transfer from an institution).
(b) Other deaths in police operations where officers were in close contact with the deceased. This would include most raids and shootings by police. However, it would not include most sieges where a perimeter was established around a premises but officers did not have such close contact with the person to be able to significantly influence or control the person’s behaviour.
Category 2
Other deaths during custody-related police operations. This would cover situations where officers did not have such close contact with the person to be able to significantly influence or control the person’s behaviour. It would include most sieges, as described above, and most cases where officers were attempting to detain a person—for example, a pursuit.
Indigenous status
Indigenous status is classified according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics Indigenous Status Standard (ABS 2014) as Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, or neither Aboriginal nor Torres Strait Islander. Indigenous status is reported as Indigenous or non-Indigenous.
Sex
The NDICP reports an individual’s sex rather than their gender. Sex refers to an individual’s sex characteristics, whereas gender refers to their ‘social and cultural identity, expression and experience’ (ABS 2020).
Manner of death
The National Deaths in Custody Program (NDICP) collects information on both the cause and manner of death. While cause of death relates to the direct cause of death, manner of death refers to the accountability or responsibility for the death as reported by the coroner or by police and prison authorities. Manner of death is categorised in the NDICP as:
- natural causes;
- self-inflicted;
- homicide (justifiable, excusable, or unlawful);
- accident (or misadventure);
- other/not determined; or
- not stated or unknown.
These categories were derived at the inception of the NDICP based on coronial terminology. In some cases, cause and manner can correspond. In other cases, cause and manner of death will differ.
Legal status
Legal status refers to whether the individual was sentenced and serving a period of imprisonment or unsentenced at the time of their death. Unsentenced prisoners may include those who were being held on remand awaiting a court hearing, trial or extradition, convicted but awaiting sentencing, or awaiting deportation.
Method of detainment
Method of detainment refers to the circumstances in which police were detaining or attempting to detain the individual. Method of detainment is categorised in the NDICP as:
- motor vehicle pursuit;
- other pursuit (eg foot pursuit);
- siege—whereby a defined area is defended by an individual against all others;
- raid—whereby police attempt to entrap an individual in a defined area in order to detain; or
- other—includes attempts to detain not elsewhere classified (eg police shootings).