This article originally appeared on VICE Australia.
In 1983, a 16-year-old Aboriginal man called John Pat died of massive head injuries after being taken into police custody in Western Australia. His death, along with several others, sparked the historic Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. The commission eventually delivered 339 recommendations, including that police only take Aboriginal people into custody as a last resort.
More than three decades later, it seems that Australia has learned very little from its history.
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