Bringing-Them-Home-Report-Web

The Australian Institute of Criminology presented an analysis of the results of theAugust 1995 National Police Custody Survey which shows the extent to which policecustody is utilised.The significance of the survey’s findings to the Inquiry is that they help to illustrate thecontinuing heavy involvement of Indigenous children (compared to non-Indigenous children) inthe criminal justice system, in particular the elevated proportion of Aboriginal children being heldin the cells by police (submission 686 page 2).The following table shows the number and percentage of Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth aged 10 to 17 held in police custody nationally during the August 1995survey period.National Police Custody Survey, August 1995Indigenous youth Non- TotalIndigenous youthAge No % No % No %10 - - 1 100 1 10011 4 57 3 43 7 10012 24 67 12 33 36 10013 65 59 46 41 111 10014 105 59 73 41 178 10015 151 44 190 66 341 10016 155 38 250 62 405 10017 200 30 474 70 674 100Total 704 40 1,049 60 1,753 100Note: It is not possible to distinguish Aboriginal from Torres Strait Islander young people inany juvenile justice data.Some 40% of all young people held in police custody during the survey period wereIndigenous. Indigenous children and young people comprise only 2.6% of the nationalyouth population. In fact, the rate of custody per 100,000 Indigenous young people is1,333 compared to a rate of 52 for non-Indigenous youth. The over-representation factoris 26.The majority of children taken into police custody under the age of 15 years wereIndigenous. That children of such a young age should be separated from their families,communities and community organisations is highly disturbing, particularly when suchseparations are not a feature of police interaction with non-Indigenous children. The issueof the relatively young age of Indigenous young people detained in police custody was