First Nations young people in detention
First Nations young people in detention
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) uses 'First Nations people' to refer to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in this report.
Of the 845 young people in detention on an average night aged 10 and over in the June quarter 2024, 3 in 5 (60%, or 509) were First Nations young people. Of the 722 young people aged 10–17 in detention during this period, about 2 in 3 (65%, or 471) were First Nations young people, yet First Nations young people made up just 6.6% of the Australian population aged 10–17.
The rate of First Nations young people aged 10–17 in detention increased between the June quarter 2020 and the June quarter 2024 (20 to 27 per 10,000). First Nations young people were 27 times as likely as non-Indigenous young people to be in detention in the June quarter 2024 (compared with 15 times as likely in the June quarter 2020).
First Nations people have a long history of over-representation in the youth and adult justice systems in Australia. This over-representation reflects a history of trauma, cultural dispossession, and forced displacement and assimilation that have affected them, their parents, families and communities (House of Representatives Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs 2011; Johnston 1991).
For more information see First Nations young people.
House of Representatives Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs (2011) Doing time – time for doing: Indigenous youth in the criminal justice system, Canberra: Australian Government.
Johnston E (1991) Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody: national reports, volumes 1–5, Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service.