Juvenile detention

Juvenile detention statistics

Up to 70% of detained children were remanded simply for breaching bail conditions, and the time on remand is getting longer and longer [14]. In 2009 around 300 juveniles were arrested for breach of bail each month, up from about 100 in 2000.

Aboriginal children and teenagers are 24 times more likely to be incarcerated than their non-Aboriginal peers, and more than twice that rate in Western Australia [20]. The gap in incarceration rates has grown every year since 2010-11.

There is a greater likelihood of an Aboriginal child being incarcerated than completing year 12 schooling. [21]

Aboriginal youth detention rates. While in Victoria the rate is almost half the national average, Western Australia's rate is twice as high. [20]

While young Aboriginal people make up only 6% of the population, 58% of young people in prison are Aboriginal [20].

Of the people aged 10 to 17 in detention or community-based supervision, 12.6 per 10,000 people are non-Aboriginal, but 15 times as many, or 189 per 10,000, are Aboriginal. [20]

Legal experts label the overwhelming over-representation of Aboriginal youth a “state crisis” [15].

The development of programs in juvenile justice hasn't taken enough consideration of the specific requirements of Aboriginal young people.—Chris Cunneen, criminologist, University of NSW [20]

Why are so many kids in juvenile detention?

The high youth detention rates have several causes [16]:

• not complying with a curfew,
• not being in the company of a parent,
• social disadvantage - the most disadvantaged youths are 7 times more likely to be under supervision than the most advantaged [20],
• lack of access to a magistrate,
• punitive state government - mandatory sentencing in WA, the removal of the principle of imprisonment as a last resort in Queensland and the abolition of youth drug courts in Queensland and NSW [20],
• no-one can provide bail because they are out of country, and
• limited regional justice services available,
• heavy-handed courts which hand out the “harshest sentences for stealing ever recorded by juveniles” [8],
• heavy-handed police who arrest juveniles because they are Aboriginal (“over-policing”).
• Wrong lessons learned as a child. ‘‘In their early lives, kids need repetition, they need routine, they need security - it’s when kids learn whether they need to hug or to slap,’’ says Dr Cashmore, a Sydney University child abuse expert [19]. ‘‘If you’re exposed to violence at a young age, you can learn that that’s the way to engage with people. Or you might turn to drugs and alcohol as a form of self-medication for the emotional pain or anger you’re experiencing. Then offending may become the way of maintaining that habit.”

“The causes of the horrendous rate of Aboriginal juvenile over-representation are complex but in the rural and remote parts of the state, sustained and targeted policing and draconian sentencing trends are playing an undeniable role,” says Stephen Lawrence, principal solicitor with the Aboriginal Legal Service in NSW [8].

“We have intergenerational trauma. We have the consequences of family violence, with young people preferring to be on the street than at home. We have ongoing problems with a lack of engagement with the education system. We have high rates of youth suicide,” adds University of Western Australia criminologist Prof Harry Blagg. [20]

Many cases don’t lead to a conviction or custodial sentence. Corey Brough spent 29 months in jail without being convicted of a crime [17]. Although recommended by the United Nations, he received no compensation for the time he spent while refused bail and little support to help him settle back into the community. “I feel violated,” Mr Brough says, “They can break the law and get away with it.”

For many young Aboriginal men in rural communities, detention has become a rite of passage [5].

If youth receive multiple charges it can expose them to harsh mandatory sentencing.

Locking us up is not really helping. It's just making us do more stuff like that.—"Nathan", 17, detained in Grafton, NSW [15]

There are no votes in black matters, so no one cares.—John McKenzie, chief legal officer, Aboriginal Legal Service, about politicians' response [15]

Detention also has benefits

But there is an upside to detention. The young people get at least three meals a day and an education, more than what many of them can expect at home.

Detention time also fosters stronger links with their Aboriginal identity [15].

Dubbo police inspector, Rod Blackman, says there is no deterrent for youth facing jail time. On the contrary, jails are operating as safehouses for vulnerable children and the criminal justice system is becoming a proxy social service provider [8].

I've lost count of the number of children who when they are finally refused bail and end up in our juvenile detention centre, are quite happy because they know they're going to get fed three times a day, and they know they're in a safe environment, and quite often they've got other family members in there.—Rod Blackman, Dubbo police inspector [8]