New data shows 100 children in youth detention, up more than 200 per cent in two years

Many kids in Territory youth detention centres won’t be convicted or sentenced. Read why.

THERE were 100 children locked up in the Territory last month, according to new data.

Figures released by the Office of the Children’s Commission NT show the number of individual children entering detention in the NT has grown by 200 per cent in two years.

In May this year there were 100 children detained, compared with 31 in May 2020.

The figure has almost doubled from May 2021, which reported 67.

Acting Children’s Commissioner Nicole Hucks said alternatives needed to be explored for the wellbeing of kids.

“Locking up kids doesn’t work. We are exposing too many children and young people to an environment that should be truly the last resort,” she said.

“The youth justice system is now struggling with increased workload which is evident in the unique numbers in detention.”

Productivity Commission data showed the NT’s child detention rate was three times higher than anywhere else in Australia.

North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency principal lawyer David Woodroffe said the changes to bail laws were resulting in more young people remanded to Don Dale or Alice Springs Youth Detention Centres.

He indicated many children exposed to detention will never receive a conviction and often spend longer waiting for a court date than they would if sentenced.

“The new bail laws have become a giant trawl net that has been scooping up children who wouldn’t ordinarily come before the justice system and exposing them to places like Don Dale,” he said.

“Children with intellectual and learning difficulties who forget to charge their electronic monitoring devices or their curfew times (are detained).”

Mr Woodroffe said “serious breaches of bails” were not culturally responsive and children were being remanded for accompanying parents to “shopping, banking or sorry business”.

“The bail changes sees more Aboriginal children now on bail who previously would have been diverted from the justice system and exposed to places such as Don Dale,” Mr Woodroffe said.

Territory Families Minister Kate Worden said the government had invested $74m in prevention and intervention programs in the Territory 2022-23 budget.

“The most appropriate way to reduce youth detention is to invest in prevention and early intervention programs and services,” she said.

“Young people who are at our youth justice centres are on remand and are awaiting court decisions.”

Ms Worden added 70 per cent of young people who complete alternative sentencing programs do not reoffend with six months, while 64 per cent don’t reoffend within 12 months.

NT paediatrician Nick Fancourt, who works with children in detention, said the justice system needed a new way of supporting the complex health and disability needs of kids.

“Any child who comes into contact with a youth detention facility will have lasting trauma,” he said.

“What we need are really sustainable diversion programs and health and disability support that can wrap around that child in the community.”

In March, the NT News reported steep increases in the number of children self-harming in Don Dale.