When Indigenous sentencing courts began to develop in Australia in the early 2000s, governments promoted the view that the courts could reduce the Indigenous incarceration rate, or – even more radically – they could reduce the ratio of Indigenous and non-Indigenous imprisonment. Age-standardised figures from 2017 show that the Australian Indigenous incarceration rate is thirteen times greater than that of non-Indigenous people. Reductions in incarceration rates and ratios are desirable, of course, but it is unrealistic to expect this from Indigenous sentencing courts alone. To reduce Indigenous incarceration will require significant change in the rates of criminalising Indigenous people, and for rates of criminalisation to decline will require changes to criminal laws and procedures, along with a sustained policy focus on reducing social and economic disadvantage of Indigenous people. White Australians need to listen to and work side by side with Indigenous people to get the social, economic and criminal justice policy focus right. This essay draws from research we have carried out both together and individually since 2001, and examines how the courts operate and what they can achieve.