Custody Notification Service facts for kids
A Custody Notification Service (CNS), sometimes referred to as a Custody Notification Scheme, is a 24-hour legal advice and support telephone hotline for any Indigenous Australian person brought into custody, connecting them with lawyers from the Aboriginal legal service operating in their state or territory. It is intended to reduce the high number of Aboriginal deaths in custody by counteracting the effects of institutional racism. Legislation mandating the police to inform the legal service whenever an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person is brought into custody is seen as essential to ensure compliance and a clear record of events. Where Custody Notification Services have been implemented, there have been reductions in the numbers of Aboriginal deaths in custody.
The implementation of a CNS in all Australian states and territories was recommendation no. 224 of the 339 recommendations of the 1991 Australian Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody report, but by 2018, only the Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales had such a service mandated by legislation. Many of the other states have followed, since the offer of three years of funding by the federal government in October 2016. As of July 2020[update], only Queensland and Tasmania do not have a legislated CNS in place.
