Defendants in the Circle: Nowra Circle Court, the Presence and Impact of Elders, and Re-Offending

Daly, Kathleen and Gitana Proietti-Scifoni (2009). Defendants in the Circle: Nowra Circle Court, the Presence and Impact of Elders, and Re-Offending. Brisbane: School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Griffith University (November, 128 pp).

This report presents the first qualitative study of how Indigenous offenders view the court process and the role of Indigenous Elders, with reference to the Nowra Circle Court in New South Wales, established in 2002. The aims are to show how Indigenous people’s entanglement with the criminal justice system is linked to adverse conditions growing up and into adulthood; to describe the Circle Sentencing process and its impact; and to contribute a specifically Indigenous element to the literature on people’s pathways into and out of crime, with a focus on desistance theory and qualitative research. Three groups of defendants were identified through interviews and case reviews: complete desisters, partial desisters, and persisters. The role and impact of Elders in facilitating a transition to desistance is examined. Case studies are presented for each of the defendants and the findings are set in the context of the literature on Indigenous courts and on desistance.