Indigenous Children Account for 60 Percent of Youth Detention: Report

Brisbane Youth Detention Centre at Wacol in Brisbane, Australia, on Aug. 24, 2020. Glenn Hunt/Getty Images

Australia’s youth detention system continues to be over-represented by Indigenous children, as over six in ten youths locked up in detention centres are of First Nations background.

According to a newly released report (pdf) by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), Indigenous children accounted for 63 percent of people aged 10–17 in detention on an average night in the June quarter of 2023.

This occurred despite First Nations juveniles only making up 5.7 percent of the total population of this age group.

It is worth noting that Indigenous children’s detention rates are higher among younger age groups.

For the 10-13 age group, 73 percent of those detained were Indigenous. However, the figure dropped to 34 percent for young people aged 18 and over.

While First Nations young people aged 10–17 were 29 times more likely to end up in detention centres compared to non‑Indigenous youth, the ratio shot up to 46 times for children aged 10-13.

At the same time, the ratio of Indigenous youth aged ten and over in detention rose sharply from around 330 per 10,000 people to nearly 500 per 10,000 people between the September quarter of 2020 and the June quarter of 2023.

Among the jurisdictions, the Northern Territory had the highest rate of First Nations young people aged 10–17 in detention (50 per 10,000), followed by Queensland (45 per 10,000), Western Australia (30 per 10,000) and South Australia (20 per 10,000).

Declining Trend in Youth Crime

Despite youth crimes occupying headlines in recent years, there has been a drop in the overall youth population of detention centres.

On an average night in the June quarter of 2023, 812 young people were held in detention centres, down from 941 in the June quarter of 2019.

The rate of young people aged 10–17 in detention also fell from 3.2 per 10,000 to 2.6 per 10,000 during the period.

Almost nine in ten (89 percent) youths detained were male, and nearly four in five (77 percent) were unsentenced (awaiting court appearance or sentence).

Queensland had the highest number of young people detained on an average night (306), followed by New South Wales (186), Victoria (100), Western Australia (96), the Northern Territory (58), South Australia (34), Tasmania (17), and the Australian Capital Territory (15).

Children Experts Say Youth Crimes Must Be Tackled by Multi-Pronged Approach

Amid the emergence of youth crimes in several regions across the country, child and adolescent psychologist Clare Rowe said while it was necessary to provide children with education, skills and support, authorities needed to use the “stick” approach to prevent them from committing crimes.

“These youths are not having any respect. We’ve got maximum penalties, but they’re very rarely used,” she told Sky News, noting that there was reluctance among authorities to put teenage offenders into detention.

“There needs to be some accountability. Maximum penalties or penalties that can be handed down need to be handed down.”

Tanveer Ahmed, another psychologist, also pointed out the role of parenting in tackling youth crimes.

The psychologist believed that modern schooling needed to be tied to parenting strategies as many children who committed crimes had broken families.

“Rather than outsource all this parenting to teachers, it’s always a bit more kind of interaction between sort of schools and parents setting boundaries, etc.,” he said.