Placing Country At The Centre: Decolonising Justice For Indigenous Young People With Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders [FASD]

After decades of neglect, attention in Australia has recently focused on the inter-generational impact of longterm alcohol use in the form of Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders ('FASD'), and the lack of responsiveness of the justice system to the needs of persons with FASD. FASD is a non-diagnostic umbrella term encompassing a spectrum of disorders caused by prenatal alcohol exposure, including Foetal Alcohol Syndrome ('FAS'), Partial FAS ('pFAS') and alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder. While Australian data is limited, the prevalence of FASD in Indigenous communities is indicatively greater than non- Indigenous communities. In 2015, rates of FAS/pFAS of 12 per 100 children were reported in Fitzroy Crossing in the West Kimberley region of Western Australia.4 This is the highest reported prevalence in Australia and on par with the highest rates internationally.