Deaths during police apprehension and in police custodial detention

Abstract

Australian deaths in custody are reported by the Australian Institute of Criminology’s National Deaths in Custody Program (NDICP). This metric includes deaths occurring in prison, police custody and youth detention. It also includes deaths during police apprehensions where a person is being taken into custody, police officer-involved shootings, and other specific police operations. This paper considers the merit of such an approach and calls for expanding the NDICP mandate to collect national-level data.