on Aboriginal destructive behaviours in order to better understand those Preventing Youth Suicide

behaviours in their wider social context, which is vital for a meaningful approach to suicide prevention. The paper will focus on: Aboriginal destructive behaviour and its 'causality'; stressors operating in Aboriginal communities; and the impact of prison and police related interactions upon that community. The paper concludes with two local Aboriginal perspectives on suicide prevention. Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody: Some Non-Aboriginal Comparisons Due to the broad terms of reference of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, the 'gross over-representation ' of Aborigines in Australian legal custody is receiving special attention by social scientists besides the gaggle of lawyers. In the South Australian Census of 1986, 2.1 per cent of all people in non-private dwellings were in prison, corrective and detention institutions. The corresponding figure for Aboriginals in South Australia, was 18.8 per cent, a difference factor of nine times. This is the greatest degree of over-representation in Australia, as has been noted by Hunter (1989)