<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>335251</docID> <postdate>2024-12-13 12:53:04</postdate> <headline>Majority of children in detention are Indigenous boys</headline> <body><p><img class=" wp-image-335252" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/20231026001856532039-original-1.jpg" alt="" width="1065" height="763" /></p> <caption>A report has found young people should only be detained as a last resort. (Aaron Bunch/AAP PHOTOS)</caption> <p class="wire-column__preview__author"><span class="kicker-line">By <b>Tess Ikonomou</b> in Canberra</span></p> <p><strong>Almost 850 young people are locked up in detention nationwide on any given night, with nine in 10 being boys, and the majority Indigenous children.</strong></p> <p>A report released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare on Friday, showed how many young people were in detention between June 2020 to June 2024.</p> <p>There were 845 youths in custody in the June quarter this year, with 90 per cent of those being teen boys.</p> <p>Six in 10 were Indigenous children, with 39 per cent non-Indigenous.</p> <p>The rate of First Nations young people aged between 10 and 17 in detention increased.</p> <p>Indigenous children were 27 times as likely as non-Indigenous young people to be in detention.</p> <p>"First Nations people have a long history of over-representation in the youth and adult justice systems in Australia," the report reads.</p> <p>"This over representation reflects a history of trauma, cultural dispossession, and forced displacement and assimilation that have affected them, their parents, families and communities."</p> <p>The report found Indigenous people only make up 5.7 per of 10-17 year olds, but just under two thirds in youth detention are First Nations.</p> <p>Although the number of people in detention has fluctuated, it has risen from 791 in the June quarter of 2020.</p> <p>Of the total number of children in custody, 317 were in Queensland, followed by 240 in New South Wales, and 88 in Victoria.</p> <p>Queensland had more young people locked up than Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT combined.</p> <p>A small number of young people aged between 10 and 13 were also in detention.</p> <p>This figure also rose from 31 in the June quarter of 2020 to 38 in the June quarter of 2024.</p> <p>The Northern Territory and ACT last year raised the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 12 from 10.</p> <p>This means that young people aged 10 and 11 cannot be held criminally responsible for their conduct and were not supervised in the youth justice system during the 2023/2024 financial year.</p> <p>In October the incoming NT government passed laws lowering the age of criminal responsibility back to 10.</p> <p>The two main principles of the Australian youth justice system is that young people should be detained only as a last resort, and for the shortest appropriate period, the report says.</p> </body>