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Coronial Practice, Indigeneity and Suicide

All available data suggest that, like many other Indigenous peoples, Australian Aborigines are significantly more likely to kill themselves than are non-Aboriginal Australians. This statistical disparity is normally positioned an objective, ontological and undeniable social fact, a fact best explain...

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Autores principales: Tait, Gordon, Carpenter, Belinda, Jowett, Stephanie
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5923807/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29659514
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15040765
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author Tait, Gordon
Carpenter, Belinda
Jowett, Stephanie
author_facet Tait, Gordon
Carpenter, Belinda
Jowett, Stephanie
author_sort Tait, Gordon
collection PubMed
description All available data suggest that, like many other Indigenous peoples, Australian Aborigines are significantly more likely to kill themselves than are non-Aboriginal Australians. This statistical disparity is normally positioned an objective, ontological and undeniable social fact, a fact best explained as a function of endemic community disadvantage and disenfranchisement. This research explores the possibility that higher-than-normal Aboriginal suicide rates may also be a function of coronial decision-making practices. Based upon in-depth interviews with 32 coroners from across Australia, the following conclusions emerged from the data. First, coroners have differing perceptions of Indigenous capacity, and are less likely to have concerns about intent when the suicide is committed by an Indigenous person. Second, coroners have identified divergent scripts of Indigenous suicide, particularly its spontaneity and public location, and this supports rather than challenges, a finding of suicide. Third, the coronial perception of Indigenous life is a factor which influences a suicide determination for Indigenous deaths. Finally, the low level of Indigenous engagement with the coronial system, and the unlikelihood of a challenge to the finding of suicide by Indigenous families, means that a coronial determination of suicide is more likely.
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spelling pubmed-59238072018-05-03 Coronial Practice, Indigeneity and Suicide Tait, Gordon Carpenter, Belinda Jowett, Stephanie Int J Environ Res Public Health Article All available data suggest that, like many other Indigenous peoples, Australian Aborigines are significantly more likely to kill themselves than are non-Aboriginal Australians. This statistical disparity is normally positioned an objective, ontological and undeniable social fact, a fact best explained as a function of endemic community disadvantage and disenfranchisement. This research explores the possibility that higher-than-normal Aboriginal suicide rates may also be a function of coronial decision-making practices. Based upon in-depth interviews with 32 coroners from across Australia, the following conclusions emerged from the data. First, coroners have differing perceptions of Indigenous capacity, and are less likely to have concerns about intent when the suicide is committed by an Indigenous person. Second, coroners have identified divergent scripts of Indigenous suicide, particularly its spontaneity and public location, and this supports rather than challenges, a finding of suicide. Third, the coronial perception of Indigenous life is a factor which influences a suicide determination for Indigenous deaths. Finally, the low level of Indigenous engagement with the coronial system, and the unlikelihood of a challenge to the finding of suicide by Indigenous families, means that a coronial determination of suicide is more likely. MDPI 2018-04-16 2018-04 /pmc/articles/PMC5923807/ /pubmed/29659514 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15040765 Text en © 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Tait, Gordon
Carpenter, Belinda
Jowett, Stephanie
Coronial Practice, Indigeneity and Suicide
title Coronial Practice, Indigeneity and Suicide
title_full Coronial Practice, Indigeneity and Suicide
title_fullStr Coronial Practice, Indigeneity and Suicide
title_full_unstemmed Coronial Practice, Indigeneity and Suicide
title_short Coronial Practice, Indigeneity and Suicide
title_sort coronial practice, indigeneity and suicide
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5923807/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29659514
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15040765
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