Trends in detention by Indigenous status
Between an average night in the June quarter 2020 and the June quarter 2024:
- the number of First Nations young people aged 10 and over in detention has been increasing since the September quarter 2020
- 46%–60% of young people aged 10 and over in detention were First Nations (Supplementary tables S1 and S11)
- the rate of First Nations young people aged 10–17 in detention has increased overall to 27 per 10,000 in the June quarter 2024, from a low in the September quarter 2020 (17 per 10,000), and has consistently been higher than the non-Indigenous rate (Figure 2.1)
- the rate of non-Indigenous young people aged 10–17 in detention has remained relatively steady, ranging from 1.0 to 1.3 per 10,000 with an overall downward trend (Figure 2.1)
- First Nations young people were 27 times as likely to be in detention than non-Indigenous young people in June quarter 2024 compared to 15 times as likely in the June quarter 2020 (Supplementary table S18).
Figure 2.1: Young people in detention on an average night, by Indigenous status, June quarter 2020 to June quarter 2024 (number and rate)
Interactive graphs show that from March quarter 2021, there were more First Nations young people in detention than non-Indigenous young people.
Notes
- Includes young people with unknown sex.
- Trend data may differ from those previously published due to data revisions.
- Rates are the number of young people per 10,000 relevant population.
- Data for the figure presenting numbers includes young people aged 10 and over – data for the rate figure includes young people aged 10–17.
- Rates for the 10–17 age group in 2023–24 are calculated using the sum of the 12–17 population (Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory) and the 10–17 population (all remaining jurisdictions) due to these jurisdictions increasing the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 12 during 2023.
Source: Supplementary tables S1, S6 and S18.