In the 25 years since the Royal Commission into Indigenous Deaths In Custody, the number of Indigenous people in prison has doubled. He was one of ten boys participating in a 2009 United Nations youth representative consultation. Reducing Indigenous youth incarceration in Australia The need for new solutions Despite awareness of the disproportionate level of Indigenous juveniles inside justice and detention systems, programs implemented to address this issue have failed to reduce the high incarceration rates of Indigenous youth. In Victoria, the rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people was approximately 10 times the rate for non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people. Sentence Types for Children and Young People, General Trends in Sentencing for Victorian Courts, General Trends for Imprisonment and Community Orders. Across Australia, Indigenous children constitute at least 54% of children in juvenile detention centres. The numbers are echoed in community-based corrections as well, with nearly 20 per cent of people in community-based correctional facilities being Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander. Indigenous children are wildly over represented in detention, incarcerated at 24 times the rate of non-indigenous youth. Meanwhile, there have been 449 Indigenous deaths in custody between 1980 and 2011, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders currently represent approximately 1 in 5 deaths in custody. In The Westerman Aboriginal symptoms checklist for youth manual. Indigenous Australians account for less than 3 per cent of Australia's national population, but they make up more than half of all children* in juvenile detention. The issue in depth Mr Vita also expresses, “many young people in the youth justice system come from homes where poverty, alcohol abuse, violence and dysfunctional relationships are the norm. The Indigenous population is consistently over-represented in Australia's prisons, but it's even more apparent in the juvenile justice system. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are over-represented in Australia's justice system Source: ABC, Northern Territory Youth Detention System, A history of the allegations of "inhumane" treatment at the Don Dale Juvenile Detention Centre, 'A national crisis': Indigenous incarceration rates worse 25 years on, At-a-glance: Indigenous incarceration in Australia. Data for the monitoring program are provided by the relevant juvenile justic… The development of a comprehensive assessment process for Aboriginal youth (aged 13 to 17) at risk of depression, suicidal behaviours and anxiety. In Victoria, that rate is 16%, with 60% of children going on to reoffend. SBS acknowledges the traditional owners of country throughout Australia. Taking these young Aboriginal people out to activities can break the cycle, renew their ties to Aboriginal … Tasmania had the largest increase of detention rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people: from 29.37 in 2017–18 to 34.58 in 2018–19, an increase of 17.7%. Every single child in prison in the Northern Territory is Indigenous. Data from the Youth Detention Population in Australia 2017 report. On an average day in the 2019 financial year, 179 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth aged 10 to 17 years were held in youth detention in Queensland, Australia. Western Australia had the highest rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth detention at 284.1 per 10,000 young people. Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander young people aged 10 to 17 are 23 times more likely to be in detention than non-Indigenous young people, jumping to 38 times in some states. In the case of girls, the statistic is even more alarming, with Indigenous girls 33 times more likely to find themselves in the youth justice system than non-Indigenous girls. Vaccines, Panic buying, and Black Lives Matters: The best of The Case in 2020, ‘Fear of regional outsiders’: Expert says the pandemic has led to a growth of regionalism within Australia, ‘Double standard’: Experts weigh in on publicly shaming only certain COVID rule-breakers, 2020’s wildest moments: from toilet paper trauma to epic cancellings, QAnon and coronavirus: How our comedians saw 2020, 'Donald Duck or Mickey Mouse': NSW residents urged to complete QR codes correctly as cases rise. * For the purposes of youth detention in Australia, juveniles are defined as children aged between 10 and 16 years in Queensland and 10 and 17 years in every other state and territory. I lived in Sydney’s most infamous murder house. In Australia, children can be incarcerated from the age of 10. On an average night in Australia, 34 in every 10,000 Indigenous young people are in prison, compared to just 1.3 per 10,000 non-Indigenous young people. JUV 132, Supplementary Table S85b (2020). The Australian Capital Territory had the largest decrease in detention rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people: from 205.54 in 2017–18 to 150.51 in 2018–19, a decrease of 26.7%. Among the 980 young people in detention on an average night in the June quarter 2018, most were male (90%), aged 10–17 (84%), unsentenced (60%), and Aboriginal or … That’s compared to a 28 per cent increase in non-Indigenous Australians within the same period. Western Australia had the highest rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth detention at 284.1 per 10,000 young people. Western Australia also had the greatest difference in detention rates between the two groups: the rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people was approximately 21 times the rate for non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people. The statistics also reflect that young people between the ages of 15 to 16 are most likely to be apprehended and that the number of people under 15 years being detained is increasing. Indigenous children make up one in 15 kids in Australia, and half of all children in Australia’s youth detention centres. For every 100,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in WA, 3,745 are imprisoned, while in the Northern Territory the statistic is only slightly less with 3,025 prisoners per 100,000 people. Australia's roughly 700,000 indigenous citizens track near the bottom of almost every economic and social indicator for the country's 23 million people. The detention rate for Indigenous juveniles is 397 per 100 000,which is 28 times higher than the rate for non-Indigenous juveniles(14 per 100 000). Eight of these ten boys were Indigenous. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s December 2015 report on Youth Detention states that across the country, 54 per cent of juvenile detainees between the ages of 10 and 17 are of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent. Aim: To determine whether there are different health needs associated with differences between Indigenous and non‐Indigenous youth in detention in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Aboriginal children in the state are almost 50 times more likely to be in youth detention than non-Indigenous children. This is an increase of 11 per cent since March 2015. Yoder. On an average day in the 2019 financial year, 478 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth aged 10 to 17 years were held in youth detention in Australia. Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Youth Justice in Australia 2018–19, cat. It taught me about the horrifying history of ‘baby farming’. According to data collated by the Law Council of Australia from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the number of Indigenous Australians in the prison system has risen by a staggering 88 per cent between 2004 and 2015. Aboriginal youth is often exposed to domestic violence and abuse which increases the risk of them becoming future offenders.. Source: AIHW, Youth Justice 2016-17, ABS 3238.0 Aboriginal Population Estimates and Projections, ABS 3101.1 Australian Demographic Statistics 30 Aboriginal youth comprise 4% of the Western Australian youth population. This is systemic racism in action. 31 Youth (10-17 years) under justice supervision (community-based and detention) in Victoria, rates per 10,000 population. In 2018–19, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people (aged 10 to 17 years) in all Australian states and territories were detained in youth detention facilities at a higher rate than non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people. An ABC Four Corners report into the treatment of youth detainees in the Northern Territory showed images of juvenile detainees being gassed, choked and stripped naked in the Don Dale Juvenile Detention Centre. The number of Aboriginal girls and young women in detention is lower than Aboriginal males, but make up a high proportion of all girls and young women detained. Indigenous youth over-represented in detention: Amnesty International By Amy Mitchell-Whittington Updated August 31, 2016 — 3.00pm first published at 1.43pm While in Victoria the rate is almost half the national average, Western Australia's rate is twice as high. The trends aren’t solely confined to male offenders - 34 per cent of the national women’s prison population are of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent. Indigenous Australians are living in "appalling" conditions and young Aborigines in detention are "essentially being punished for being poor", the United Nations has declared in a scathing report. no. Aborigines comprise just three per cent of Australia's population but make up 27 per cent of those in prison and represent 94 per cent of the Northern Territory's juvenile inmates. The rates of Indigenous incarceration are the highest in Western Australia and the Northern Territory. “Indigenous youth are more likely to be in detention than non-Indigenous youth, and they are being placed into detention for more serious crimes, such as acts intending to cause injury,” he continues. The picture is even more stark in the Northern Territory where 97 per cent of youth detainees are Indigenous according to the 2015 Northern Territory Youth Detention System report. The AIC has monitored juveniles in detention in Australia since 1981 (see AIC 2000; Bareja & Charlton 2003; Cahill & Marshall 2002; Carcach & Muscat 1998; Charlton & McCall 2004; Richards & Lyneham 2010; Taylor 2006, 2007, 2009; Veld & Taylor 2005). This paper provides a statistical overview of juvenile detention from 1981 to 2002, with a detailed review of the financial year 2001-02. A history of the allegations of "inhumane" treatment at the Don Dale Juvenile Detention CentreNT minister dumped of Don Dale scandal'A national crisis': Indigenous incarceration rates worse 25 years onAt-a-glance: Indigenous incarceration in Australia, Leaving home is still a taboo for some Australians, Halal dating: the reality of finding love for young Australian Muslims. The latest Australian Institute of Health and Welfare youth justice report also found 39% of young Indigenous people were aged 10-13 when they first came into the justice system, compared to only 15% of non-Indigenous young people. Aboriginal youth detention rates. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth are currently 26 times more likely to be detained than their non-Indigenous counterparts. J., Grady, M., & Dillard, R. (2018). The proportion of non-Indigenous young people who were unsentenced rather than sentenced was slightly INDIGENOUS CHILDREN OVER-REPRESENTED IN YOUTH DETENTION. Australia spent $539 million dollars on youth detention in the 2018/19 financial year at an average rate of $1579 per child per day, according to the Productivity Commission. Perth, Australia: Indigenous Psychological Services. Aboriginal youth programs that work. This trend is not new: Nationwide, Indigenous young people have consistently outnumbered non-Indigenous youth in every quarterly survey since March 2013. The paper's author, Michael Vita of NSW Juvenile Justice, reports, “Indigenous offenders are more likely to commit their first offence at a younger age than non-Indigenous offenders, and are more likely to have been charged multiple times.”. 18 270 out of 455 - Australian Institute of Health and Wellbeing, Youth Detention Population in Australia 2017, Tables s 2 and s 12. 29 Aboriginal youth comprise 65 per cent of juveniles in detention. “These are young people in greatest need and the ones who are likely to require a higher level of intervention and case management.”. Factors that increase the risk of Indigenous incarceration include the “misuse of alcohol, socio-economic disadvantage, childhood exposure to violence and abuse, the younger age profile of the Indigenous population, previous involvement with the criminal justice system and psychological distress,” according to the Australian Institute of Criminology. Youth detention population in Australia 2018 Summary This bulletin looks at the numbers and rates of young people aged 10 and over who were in youth detention in Australia due to their involvement, or alleged involvement, in crime. Rates per 10,000 young people (aged 10 to 17 years) in youth detention in 2018–19, by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status. Across Australia, Indigenous children make up 53% of all youth detainees. This bulletin presents information on the youth detention population in Australia from June 2014 to June 2018. Indigenous children are 26 times more likely than non-Indigenous children to be in detention. Inter-generational trauma, disconnection from land, levels of legal representation, a lack of English language skills, health problems and family breakdowns also contribute to the high rates of detention. By locking away children and separating them from their families and communities, our governments are placing limits on children’s potential and traumatising them and causing life-long harm. These are the words of a 17-year-old Indigenous boy locked in a juvenile detention centre in Perth. According to the most recent statistics, Indigenous children are 26 times more likely to be imprisoned than non-Indigenous children. Despite the indicators, the State Government claims that this recommendation has been implemented. On average,10,558 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults are in prison each day, which is an increase of 7 per cent since the number was calculated at the same time in 2015. Note: Data is based on the count of unique persons (aged 10 to 17) in youth detention at any time during the year. Indigenous Australians account for less than 3 per cent of Australia's national population, but they make up more than half of all children* in juvenile detention. He argues that the underlying causes for these young people’s offences need to be recognised and addressed. Sadly this overrepresentation of Indigenous children is reflected in juvenile detention facilities nation-wide. Indigenous Australians are also grossly over-represented in the adult prison system with the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ March 2016 report on Corrective Services finding that 28 per cent of the nation’s prison population is Indigenous. The NT has the highest rate of youth detention in Australia and 95 per cent of all kids locked away there are indigenous. 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