Despite recent high-profile cases of youth crime in some Australian states, the number of children under supervision for criminal activities has reduced in the past five years, according to the latest report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). The report shows that in 2021-2022, an average of 4,536 young Australians aged 10 and over were under supervision, which is an 18 percent drop from 5,505 in 2017-2018. The rate of people aged 10-17 who were subject to supervision also decreased from 19 to 13 per 10,000 during the period. However, the Northern Territory has the highest rate of people aged 10-17 under supervision at 46.2 per 10,000, followed by Queensland at 21.3 per 10,000 and Western Australia at 17.4 per 10,000. The report reveals that two-thirds of young people under supervision in 2021-2022 were supervised in the previous year, demonstrating the repetitive nature of the issue.
Regarding the type of supervision, over four in five children (82 percent) involved in crimes or alleged crimes were supervised by the community, while the remaining were sent to detention centres. Furthermore, three in four (75 percent) of those held in detention remained not sentenced as they waited for the outcome of their legal matters, and the average time young people spent in supervision was around 185 days, or six months, in 2021-2022.
The report also highlights the overrepresentation of young Indigenous people in Australia’s criminal justice system. Although the rate of Indigenous young people under supervision on an average day dropped from 162 per 10,000 in 2017-2018 to 121 per 10,000 in 2021-2022, the ratio is still 18 times higher than that of non-Indigenous children. The report cites several reasons for this phenomenon, including a long history of trauma, cultural dispossession, forced displacement and assimilation, and the disconnection from family and kinship systems caused by government policies in previous eras. The vast majority of Indigenous children had never faced the criminal justice system, with only 1.2 percent of people aged 10-17 under supervision on an average day in 2021-2022.
Amnesty International Australia Indigenous advisor Rodney Dillon argues that harsher penalties are not a solution to Indigenous youth crime. He suggests that the government needs to deal with the underlying causes of poverty and inequality among Indigenous children and consider other approaches besides imposing heavier penalties. Dillon emphasizes the importance of preventing crime rather than glorifying it, stating that bad laws often have a lifelong impact on children.