Bringing-Them-Home-Report-Web

criminalisation and incarceration affect young Indigenous males.However, the table above also shows that Indigenous girls form a higher proportionof all girls in detention centres than Indigenous boys for all boys. Indigenous girlscomprise 46% of all girls incarcerated while Indigenous boys comprise 36% of all boys.Both of these points have important implications for the development of policyresponses. To reduce the extent to which Indigenous young people are separated fromtheir families and communities by incarceration requires a consideration of gender. Thegreatest possible reduction in separations would be achieved by policies that reduceIndigenous male incarceration. However, policies also need to consider the specificfactors that may lead to the incarceration of girls such as previous physical and sexualabuse, drug and alcohol problems, homelessness and so on. These factors clearly have agreater impact on Indigenous girls than non-Indigenous girls since they constitute nearlyhalf of all girls incarcerated.A further point raised by the Australian Institute of Criminology relates to the extentto which Indigenous young people are held in correctional institutions on remand. At 30June 1996, some 40% of Indigenous youth in institutions were on remand. The remaining60% were serving custodial sentences. The data relating specifically to Indigenous girlsshowed that 59% were detained on remand. An analysis of the data over the period 1993to 1996 showed that ‘at a national level, the gap between sentenced and remandedIndigenous juveniles appears to be closing … Queensland appears to demonstrate themost consistent trend in this direction’ (Australian Institute of Criminology submission686 pages 6-7). Policy reforms are needed to secure further reductions in the numbers ofIndigenous young people detained on remand.Australian Institute of Criminology data enable a consideration of changes in therate and number of incarcerated young people based on quarterly reports for the threeyear period September 1993 to June 1996.Changing populations in juvenile corrective institutionsSeptember 1993 to 30 June 1996IndigenousNon-IndigenousNo Rate No RateSept 93 211 408.0 472 24.1Dec 93 220 425.4 511 26.0Mar 94 257 486.8 525 26.8June 94 271 513.3 479 24.4Sept 94 248 469.7 465 23.7Dec 94 249 471.6 462 23.5Mar 95 309 585.3 509 25.9June 95 260 492.5 527 26.9Sept 95 274 519.0 497 25.3