New data reveals 99.3 per cent of kids incarcerated in Darwin, Alice Springs are Aboriginal

New data released by the Children’s Commissioner shows Aboriginal kids make up 99.3 per cent of youth behind bars. Read the startling statistics here

Almost 100 per cent of children inside Territory detention centres during September were Aboriginal, according to new data released by the Office of the Children Commissioner (OCC).

In September, 99.3 per cent of children who saw the inside walls of Don Dale Youth Detention Centre and Alice Springs Youth Detention Centre were Aboriginal.

According to the OCC, Aboriginal kids in the NT are disproportionately incarcerated compared to non-Aboriginal children.

Acting Children’s Commissioner Nicole Hucks said her office had also recorded a 233 per cent increase in the unique number of children entering detention.

“It is not in the best interests of our communities or our young people to be locking up

higher numbers of children and entrenching them in the criminal justice system,” Ms Hucks said.

“The tough on crime approach has not resulted in lower rates of offending – we need to

continue investing in addressing the causes of crime, and supporting the locally led

solutions we know are having a positive effect on the ground.”

Ms Hucks blamed Territory bail reforms for the influx of children entering detention.

“Further, staff shortages critically impacted on the centre’s capacity to provide young people with access to basic services such as education and medical,” her statement read.

“These shortages result in frequent lock down of young people in their rooms for extended periods of time.”

In June, an NT News exclusive investigation found four young people self-harmed after being locked down in Don Dale for more than 72 hours straight.

The OCC’s latest formal monitoring of Don Dale and Alice Springs found both centres lacked a therapeutic framework to guide the operations of the centres.

On Sunday, Northern Territory Council of Social Services chief executive Debroah Di Natale wrote an opinion piece that said crime was a sensitive and politically charged issues in the NT.
“We all want to be and feel safe in our community. To be a victim of a crime is traumatic. However, locking up children makes us less safe,” Ms Di Natale said.

As the Territory debates raising the age of criminal responsibility to 12, which is likely to pass NT parliament in November, Ms Di Natale appealed to Territorians with a list of myths and facts.

“Between 2017 and 2022, children aged 10 or 11 represented 1 per cent of the mostly Aboriginal children in custody, with 18 children entering detention at a cost to the taxpayer of $3300 per day,” she wrote.

“Children aged 10 or 11 don’t commit serious, violent offences. No child under the age of 14 has ever been charged with murder in the Territory.”

Attorney-General Chansey Paech tabled legislation in October to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 12, making the Territory the first state to heed the Royal Commission in to the Protection and Detention of Children’s advice.

In September, Territory Families released its long-awaited therapeutic model of care, which was also a recommendation of the Royal Commission.

Territory Families Acting Executive Director Sasha Dennis at a media conference about the new Darwin Youth Detention Facility. Picture: (A)manda Parkinson

At the time, Territory Families acting deputy chief executive officer Sasha Dennis said the mode of care was “tangible”.

“This document sets out concrete, practical and achievable steps for us to improve the way we care for young people in detention,” Mis Dennis said.

“The changes will be noticeable from the moment a young person enters our care to well after they have returned to the community.”

Originally published as New data reveals 99.3 per cent of kids incarcerated in Darwin, Alice Springs are Aboriginal