Linkages: Mabo and the sentencing of indigenous offenders

The ground breaking decision by the High Court of Australia in Mabo v Queensland (No 2) overturned the principle of terra nullis as a legal fiction. It paved the way for a reconsideration of property law. Mabo arguably has significance beyond native title and property law to other areas of the law. This article examines the 'linkage' between the decision in Mabo and the criminal law and, in particular, the punishment of indigenous persons, it addresses the following question: Can a significantly distant temporal and physical act of dispossession as was recognized in Mabo have any relevance to contemporary questions of the punishment of indigenous persons?