The Australian Institute of Criminology recently released Deaths in Custody in Australia: 2001 National Deaths in Custody Program (NDICP) Annual Report. This report shows that there was a total of 87 deaths in custody in Australia during 2001: 56 prison custody deaths and 31 deaths in police custody. The majority of police custody deaths occurred during custody-related police operations (such as police pursuits and sieges). The 24 recorded deaths of this nature represent the highest number of these deaths ever recorded by the NDICP. The majority of these deaths occurred during police pursuits. The remaining seven police custodial deaths occurred in institutional settings. In contrast to the deaths in custody-related police operations, these institutional deaths represent the lowest number ever recorded by the NDICP.
Trends in deaths in police custody and custody-related police operations, 1990 and 2001 [see attached PDF for graph]
Source
- Collins, L. 2002, Deaths in Custody in Australia: 2001 National Deaths in Custody Program (NDICP) Annual Report, Research and Public Policy Series, no. 42, Australian Institute of Criminology, Canberra.