Youth detention population in Australia 2024

First Nations young people experience detention at relatively younger ages than non-Indigenous young people, with a higher number, rate, and rate ratio for those aged 10–13 and 14–17. Conversely, fewer First Nations young people in detention were aged 18 or over (Figure 2.2).

Nationally, on an average night in the June quarter 2024, for young people aged 10–13 in detention:

• 32 in 38 (or 82%) were First Nations
• 3.7 per 10,000 were First Nations compared to 0.1 per 10,000 who were non-Indigenous (Supplementary table S16).

For young people aged 14–17 in detention:

• 440 in 683 (or 64%) were First Nations
• the rate of detention (50 per 10,000) was markedly higher for First Nations than the rate for non-Indigenous young people (1.9 per 10,000) (Supplementary table S17).

First Nations young people aged 14–17 were 26 times as likely as non‑Indigenous young people to be in detention in the June quarter 2024 (Supplementary table S17).

For young people aged 18 and over in detention, 3 in 10 (37 or 30%) were First Nations.

Of the 509 First Nations young people in detention on an average night in the June quarter 2024:

• 32 (6.2%) were aged 10–13, compared to 2.0% of non-Indigenous young people (Supplementary tables S1, S2, S6 and S7)
• 440 (86%) were aged 14–17, compared to 73% of non-Indigenous young people (Supplementary tables S1, S3, S6 and S8)
• 37 (7.3%) were aged 18 and over, compared to 26% of non-Indigenous young people (Supplementary tables S1, S5, S6 and S1).

Figure 2.2: First Nations and non-Indigenous people in detention, by age group, June quarter 2020 to June quarter 2024 (number)

On an average night over the 4-year period from the June quarter 2020 to June quarter 2024:

For those aged 10–13:

• the number of First Nations young people ranged from 22 to 35, while for non-Indigenous young people the number ranged between 6 and 11 (Figure 2.2)
• the rate of First Nations young people in detention ranged between 2.5 and 4.0 per 10,000, while for non-Indigenous the rate remained at 0.1 per 10,000 (Supplementary table S16).

For those aged 14–17:

• the number of First Nations young people in detention ranged from 259 to 440, while for non-Indigenous young people the number ranged between 226 and 295 (Figure 2.2). The overall increase in First Nations young people in detention was driven by those aged 14-17
• the rate of First Nations young people in detention ranged from 32 to 50 in 10,000, while for non-Indigenous the rate was 1.8 to 2.7 in 10,000 (Supplementary table S17).

For those aged 18 and over the number of First Nations young people in detention ranged from 29 to 58. For non-Indigenous young people, the number ranged from 72 to 104 (Figure 2.2).