A pilot project focused on improving sentencing outcomes for Aboriginal people is changing the way Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service clients engage with the court system.

The Aboriginal Community Justice Report Project began in 2018 as a response to consistent patterns of bias and stereotypes in pre-sentence reports written about First Nations people. It aims to support Aboriginal people to tell their stories on their own terms during the sentencing process.

Pre-sentence reports, used in every state and territory to assist courts in determining appropriate sentences, are prepared by community corrections and give judicial decision-makers contextual information on the individual appearing before the court.

Aboriginal Community Justice Report (ACJR) Project research lead, University of Technology Sydney Professor of Law Thalia Anthony, said the pre-sentence reports "would rarely address family, community, upbringing, culture … yet sentencing courts would rely on them".

Professor Anthony and her colleagues conducted extensive research into a system in Canada known as the Gladue Reports, which focus on the cultural background of the individual as well as the intergenerational and immediate impacts of colonisation and systemic racism.

This went hand in hand with Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service (VALS) research with the Toronto Aboriginal Legal Service which demonstrated that Gladue Reports promote therapeutic and culturally relevant sentences for First Nations people.

In 2017 the Australian Law Reform Commission recommended that state and territory governments, in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations "develop and implement schemes that would facilitate the preparation of Indigenous Experience Reports".

Influenced by Canada's Gladue Reports and adapted for the Victorian context, the ACJR Project aims to provide a full picture of the client's background, community and story, "going much deeper than just the offence and its circumstances", VALS said.

Reports are based on yarns and interviews with clients, their relatives, respected people, Aboriginal organisations, local service providers and other research on the community before being submitted to the court.

A key component of an ACJR is that it focuses on the individual's strength being rooted in their culture, challenging the traditional sentencing process which often looks at Aboriginality through a deficit lens – which, in turn, can have negative impacts on an Aboriginal person's sentencing outcome. The strengths of the individual are then used to establish alternatives to incarceration that are community-based and healing-focused.

The project has completed several reports for VALS clients with matters in the Koori County Court and the Magistrates' Court of Victoria and have been well-received.

In sentencing remarks one Victorian Judge described the reports as "a wider lens that brings perspective on the collective experiences of the individual, family and community, as well as a relevant history of colonisation and its impacts".

Another judge said it "provides a greater opportunity for you and your loved ones, those close to you, to tell your story yourselves, rather than have others tell it".

VALS chief executive Nerita Waight told National Indigenous Times the reports promote the principles of truth-telling by "placing the power in the hands of the Aboriginal person".

Ms Waight said the project is as much about the writing as it is about the sentencing outcome.

"The ACJR Project gives our clients a space to work with their family and loved ones in a culturally safe space to determine the best options for their rehabilitation," she said.

Report writers are tasked with speaking to the client on several levels, discussing their mob and family; aspirations; significant events and disruptions in life; what they need for healing, support and moving forward, which can be a "cathartic process" for the individual.

Professor Anthony said the most rewarding part of the ACJR process is seeing how meaningful it is for the person whose story is being shared and "how they are humanised in the sentencing process".

VALS Senior Criminal Lawyer Emily Yates said going through the ACJR process was an empowering experience for clients.

"Often it's the first time for the client where their own voice is prioritised in a courtroom," she said.

Ms Waight hopes the project will be funded on a long-term basis following the completion of the pilot period.

"We want this project to be extended into all courts as a mechanism to support a strengths-based approach in sentencing," she said.

"Judicial decision-makers should have access to relevant information regarding a person's Aboriginal background and Aboriginal-specific sentencing options."