The role of respect in interactions with police among substance-using African refugee young people in Melbourne, Australia

ABSTRACT

Racialized policing and substance use are major issues faced by African young people in Australia. In-depth interviews with 18 refugee young people who use alcohol and/or drugs examined interactions with police. Status respect and human respect played important roles in interactions with police. Participants felt unfairly targeted by police and reported that they were disrespected by police through the use of discriminatory language, failing to differentiate between individuals leading to a sense of loss of self-identity, and stereotyping. Development and implementation of programs focusing on building mutual understanding and respect is needed to improve relations between refugee-background youth and police.

KEYWORDS:

• Africa
• alcohol
• policing
• qualitative research
• refugees
• young people

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Girma Seid and Tapuwa Bofu for their assistance in developing the interview guide and for assistance in building relationships with the young people interviewed in this study.

Funding

This work was supported by funding from the NHMRC-funded Centre for Research Excellence into Injecting Drug Use (CREIDU), based at the Burnet Institute. While conducting this work, DH was supported by an Australian Postgraduate Award, a Monash University Postgraduate Publications Award, and through funding from CREIDU. PH was supported by a Curtin University Research Fellowship. The National Drug Research Institute at Curtin University is supported by funding from the Australian Government under the Substance Misuse Prevention and Service Improvements Grants Fund. PD was supported by an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship. The authors gratefully acknowledge the contribution to this work of the Victorian Operational Infrastructure Support Program. The funding bodies played no role in the study design, data analysis, or preparation of the manuscript for publication. The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Danielle Horyniak

Danielle Horyniak, PhD, is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre for Population Health, Burnet Institute and an Adjunct Research Fellow at the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University. Her research utilizes quantitative and qualitative methods to understand and prevent harms associated with alcohol and illicit drug use, particularly among migrant and refugee-background populations.

Peter Higgs

Peter Higgs, PhD, is a Senior Lecturer in the Public Health Department at La Trobe University. His research interests include blood borne virus prevention for people who inject drugs and the natural history of injecting drug use.

Shelley Cogger

Shelley Cogger, BSociSci, BHSc(Hons), is a Research Officer at the Centre for Population Health, Burnet Institute. She has conducted field-based research with people who use drugs for over 15 years.

Paul Dietze

Paul Dietze, PhD, is the Head of Alcohol and other Drug Research at the Burnet Institute. With over 20 years' experience in conducting research focused on understanding and addressing harms related to alcohol and other drug use, he is one of Australia's leading alcohol and other drug researchers.