The Australian Institute of Criminology has released a publication which provides an overview of juveniles in detention in Australia, commencing in 1981 through to 2003. The data provided by each juvenile justice agency contains the number of young people in detention on the last day of each quarter in the year1. The data indicates there has been a general decline in the number of persons aged 10 to 17 in juvenile detention over this period. At 30 June 1981, 1352 young people were detained in juvenile detention facilities, whereas at 30 June 2003 only 640 juveniles were recorded as detained. Indigenous status is only available from 1994, but the rates of detention for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous young people have been declining since then. For example, the rate of Indigenous persons aged 10 to 17 in juvenile detention has decreased from 413.9 to 320.9 per 100,000 relevant population. However, the ratio of over-representation has remained relatively stable; with Indigenous persons aged 10 to 17 years still almost 20 times more likely to be in detention than non-Indigenous persons of the same age group.
Rate of Indigenous and non-Indigenous persons aged 10 to 17 years in juvenile detention in Australia and Indigenous overrepresentation ratio [see attached PDF for graph]
1 The census count is taken on the last day of March, June, September and December, therefore reflects only the number of juveniles in each jurisdiction at that time and is not necessarily representative of the actual daily average of juvenile detainees.
Source
- Charlton K & McCall M 2004. Statistics on juvenile detention in Australia: 1981-2003. Technical and background paper series no 10 Australian Institute of Criminology, Canberra