Australian aboriginal suicide deaths in custody: Cultural context and cluster evidence

Abstract

This paper assesses whether a number of the reported¹ Aboriginal suicide deaths in custody currently being investigated by the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody in Australia constitute a “suicide cluster.” An examination is made of all reported Aboriginal suicide deaths in custody in Australia from 1980 through 1988, with consideration given to geographic and temporal proximity, as well as to similarities in age, sex, method, involvement of alcohol, custodial authority, personal knowledge of other suicide victims, and other circumstantial and cultural factors. Specific attention is given to the nine reported Aboriginal suicide deaths in custody in Queensland in 1986 and 1987. Findings suggest strong support for a cluster interpretation of at least eight of these Queensland deaths, which in themselves constitute 40% of the total number of Aboriginal suicide deaths in police custody in Australia since 1980. It is also argued that suggestion, imitation, and modelling are likely mediators of this cluster effect, but are occurring in a distinctive cultural context, and in response to a nested set of interdependent causal factors.