Indigenous Young Australians, Criminal Justice and Offensive Language

Abstract

This paper explores how offensive language is socially constructed in ways that serve to criminalize the street activities of young indigenous people in Australia. The first part of the paper describes the general relationship between young indigenous people and the Australian criminal justice system. This is followed by a discussion of how indigenous young people are policed in public spaces. The paper then provides an extended exploration of the nature and dynamics of swearing, and how offensive language offences are drawn on by police in their interventions in the lives of indigenous young people.