Indigenous Children Account for 60 Percent of Youth Detention: Report

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....