The impact of colonialism on Indigenous peoples is poorly understood in mainstream criminology and often ignored in leading textbooks (Martin, 2014). A fundamental problem has been the absence of a colonial framework within contemporary criminology. Our argument, however, is that the colonial experience and its ongoing effects is critical to understanding how criminal justice systems interact with Indigenous peoples today, and is therefore central to the development of an Indigenous criminology.

Commonalities in the experiences of Indigenous peoples in the British settler colonial societies include the loss of land, social, economic and political marginalisation, and the contemporary phenomenon of over-representation in criminal justice systems. This common experience stems from the history of colonisation and the profound disruption caused to pre-existing societies. Every part of Indigenous society was attacked during the colonial process. Early contact often involved open warfare, to be replaced later by extensive government controls. Government policies and practices variously attempted to ‘civilise’, Christianise and assimilate Indigenous peoples through the establishment of reservations, forced removal of children and education in residential schools, the banning of language, cultural and spiritual practices, and the imposition of an alien justice system (Pratt, 1992; Stannard, 1992; RCAP, 1996b; Cunneen, 2001; Dunbar-Ortiz, 2014). The devastation to families, communities and nations caused by government policies was widespread.

However, as noted previously, although the overarching sovereignty of colonial states remains in place, there are differences in the way Indigenous rights were recognised in the settler colonial societies. Both Canada and the US had a long history of signing treaties with Indigenous people up until the 1870s. Aboriginal rights are also recognised in section 35 of the Canadian Constitution. In Aotearoa New Zealand, the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi influences government legislation and administration in relation to Māori. In Australia, governments and courts have consistently denied Indigenous sovereignty, and in the absence of a treaty, any rights that might flow from such a legal document.

We argue in this chapter that the over-representation of Indigenous people in crime and victimisation statistics needs to be contextualised within a much broader framework of the effects of colonisation. The long-term social and economic marginalisation, the denial of citizenship rights for Indigenous peoples, and the limited recognition of Indigenous law and governance are important in explaining over-representation in criminal justice systems.