Faculty of Education, School of Cultural and Professional Learning, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD 4001, Australia.
Faculty of Law, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD 4001, Australia.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2018 Apr 16;15(4):765. doi: 10.3390/ijerph15040765.
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.
所有现有数据表明，与许多其他原住民一样，澳大利亚原住民自杀的可能性远远高于非原住民澳大利亚人。这种统计上的差异通常被认为是客观的、本体论的和不可否认的社会事实，最好将其解释为社区持续处于不利地位和被剥夺权利的结果。本研究探讨了更高的原住民自杀率也可能是验尸官决策做法的一个功能的可能性。本研究通过对来自澳大利亚各地的 32 名验尸官进行深入访谈，从数据中得出以下结论。首先，验尸官对原住民能力的看法不同，当自杀是由原住民实施时，他们不太可能对意图表示关注。其次，验尸官已经确定了不同的原住民自杀脚本，特别是其自发性和公共位置，这支持而不是挑战自杀的结论。第三，对原住民生活的验尸官看法是影响原住民死亡自杀判断的一个因素。最后，与验尸系统的低水平原住民参与度以及原住民家庭对自杀结论提出质疑的可能性不大意味着自杀的验尸结论更有可能成立。
