Bringing-Them-Home-Report-Web

Dec 95 254 481.1 491 25.0Mar 96 276 522.8 478 24.4June 96 285 539.8 497 25.3There were 26% more Indigenous young people in detention at the end of June 1996than there were at the end of September 1993. The rate per 100,000 of the Indigenousyouth population incarcerated increased by 24% from 408.0 to 539.8. During the sameperiod, the number of non-Indigenous young people in detention centres increased by5%, while the rate increased by a similar percentage (4.7%). There has been a fluctuatingbut overall increase in Indigenous rates of incarceration in NSW and WA. In Queenslandthere was a steady rate of increase until early 1995 and then a levelling out of the rate(Atkinson 1996 page 6).The Australian Institute of Criminology concluded,There appears to be little cause for optimism in relation to the over-representation of Indigenousjuveniles in detention. Of particular concern are the consistently high numbers of Indigenousyouth in detention in NSW, Queensland and WA; the likelihood that very young detainees will beAboriginal, the steady increase in the rate of detention of Indigenous juveniles in Australia; and,an apparent upward trend in the proportion of Indigenous remandees to sentenced Indigenousdetainees. The level of over-representation of Indigenous juveniles in detention in Australiaappears to be rising (submission 686 page 8).A further factor to be considered is the location of detention centres. Most detentioncentres in Australia are hundreds, if not thousands, of kilometres away from manyAboriginal communities from which the detention population is drawn. The distancemakes it extraordinarily difficult for parents and relatives to visit incarcerated youngpeople and therefore exacerbates the effects of removal. This particularly affectsIndigenous children and young people because they are more likely to come from a nonurbanbackground (Luke and Cunneen 1995). The problem has received attentionpreviously in the research literature (Wilkie 1991 page 156, Cunneen and White 1995page 236) and in evidence to the Inquiry (NSW Government supplementary information, WAGovernment supplementary information).Finally, Indigenous children tend to enter the juvenile justice system at an earlier ageand stay in the system for longer (Queensland Government interim submission page 90,Criminal Justice Commission 1995 page 16 and Wundersitz 1996 page 204). Not only isthe rate of removal of Indigenous young people from their families much higher thannon-Indigenous young people, they are comparatively younger and more geographicallyisolated from their family and kin.Juvenile justice legislationLegislation, policy and practice provide the framework within which removalsoccur. Indigenous young people, like other young people in Australia, are subject to thecriminal law and a range of other laws. ‘Juvenile justice legislation’ refers primarily tothe legislation which establishes a separate system for dealing with young people whenthey have been suspected of committing, charged with or convicted of a criminal offence.