Australia has seen a reduction in the number of children under supervision for criminal activities in the past five years, despite the recent high-profile cases of youth crime in some states.
The rate of people aged 10-17 who were subject to supervision also dropped from 19 to 13 per 10,000 during the period.
Regarding the type of supervision, over four in five children (82 percent) involved in crimes or alleged crimes were supervised by the community, while the remaining were sent to detention centres.
Three in four (75 percent) of those held in detention remained not sentenced as they waited for the outcome of their legal matters.
In addition, the average time young people spent in supervision was around 185 days, or six months, in 2021-2022.
Among the jurisdictions, the Northern Territory has the highest rate of people aged 10–17 under supervision on an average day at 46.2 per 10,000, followed by Queensland at 21.3 per 10,000 and Western Australia at 17.4 per 10,000.
Meanwhile, young people from lower socioeconomic areas were more likely to come into contact with the criminal justice system.
The report found that 35 percent of those subject to supervision on an average day were from places with the lowest level of social and economic development compared to 6.1 percent from the highest socioeconomic areas.
A Drop in Supervision Rate Among Indigenous Children
The report showed that the rate of Indigenous young people under supervision on an average day was 121 per 10,000 in 2021-2022, a significant fall from 162 per 10,000 in 2017-2018.However, the ratio was still 18 times higher than that of non-Indigenous children.
Among the children held in detention centres, nearly two-thirds (60 percent) were of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent.
These facts resulted in the over-representation of young Indigenous people in Australia’s criminal justice system.
The report cited several reasons for the phenomenon, including a long history of trauma, cultural dispossession, forced displacement and assimilation, and the disconnection from family and kinship systems caused by government policies in previous eras.
“These removal policies have long-term consequences, including enduring social, physical and psychological impacts for those directly involved and their families and communities.
“The overrepresentation of Indigenous children in juvenile justice systems reflects this history of trauma and the stressors that have affected their parents, families and communities.”
Nevertheless, the report noted that the vast majority of Indigenous children had never faced the criminal justice system, with only 1.2 percent of people aged 10–17 under supervision on an average day in 2021–22.
Experts Say Harsher Penalties Are Not A Solution to Indigenous Youth Crime
Amnesty International Australia Indigenous advisor Rodney Dillon said the government needed to deal with the underlying causes of poverty and inequality among Indigenous children.“We need to have kids medically assessed before they go in or before they’re even taken to court,” he said in comments obtained by AAP.
“We’re not doing that. We’re just locking them up. And then we put them in solitary confinement and supercharge them and send them back to the community.”
The Palawa elder also wanted the government to consider approaches other than imposing heavier penalties, saying bad laws made in a hurry often had a lifelong impact on children.
“So we need to look at what’s causing the crime and address those issues in each state, and those politicians that are lazy–who just want to increase the penalties,” he said.
“It’s not very smart politics. It’s short-term votes for a long-term problem. We need to stop crime, not glorifying it and making it worse.”
