(10-17) processed by police has fallen
in recent years... However, the rate
remains unacceptably high and is still
over six times the non-Aboriginal rate.
contact with police at a younger age and more often.
They are more likely to be serving a custodial sentence
at a younger age than non-Koori children in Victoria.
In 2010, 12.6 per cent of those on youth justice orders
were Koories despite being only 1.02 per cent of the
Victorian population aged 10-19 years.
with police is more likely to be as a victim, for
example, as a child experiencing family violence,
and that future contacts will probably be in the
form of field contacts with police when young
Koori people are in public spaces. Some of this
goes to the distinct patterns of offending arising
from multi-age peer groups among young Koori
people, so that younger children are more likely to
come into contact with police earlier than for non-
Koori young offenders.
"From around 100 per 1,000 to close to 90 per 1,000.
The percentage-point gap between the rate of
Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal young people processed
by police has also fallen to 78.9". State of Victoria,
Department of Justice, `AJA3', above n 15, 17.
Jesuit Social Services, Thinking Outside: Alternatives to
remand for children Summary Report (2013) 18.
Research by Jesuit Social Services has also found that
there are children unnecessarily held on remand. "The
use of remand is heavily weighted toward short stays with
the majority of admissions ending with children receiving
bail or the order expiring. This is most evident where
children are held in custody overnight and throughout
weekends...Timely assessment and service coordination,
particularly after hours, must be at the centre of reform".
Jesuit Social Services, above n 190, 22.
Council found that, nationally, one-fifth of
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander females who
had contact with the juvenile justice system had
six or more contacts. In comparison, one in forty
young non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
female offenders had six or more contacts with the
juvenile justice system.
contact with youth justice is well understood. In
Victoria in 2010, "78 per cent of those aged 10-12
with youth justice orders or who had experienced
remand at this age were known to child protection
services. Of these, 60 per cent were known [to
child protection] before their seventh birthday".
usually are the product of damaged,
dysfunctional and unprotected
childhoods... The Victorian Children's
Court has seen many cases of young
people whose first interaction with the
court was in the family division (subject
to protection orders) who then go onto
offending and subsequently end up in
the criminal division of the Children's
Court. Many then go on to offending
as adults and into the adult criminal
system.
detention than young Koori men
jurisdiction of the Children's Court involve young
Koori women.
See, Troy Allard et al, Police Diversion of Young
Offenders and Indigenous Over-Representation, Report
no. 390 (Australian Institute of Criminology, 2010) 3.
<http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/current%20series/
tandi/381-400/tandi390.html> at 18 July 2013.
Jesuit Social Services, above n 190, 15.
Key informant interview, Judge Paul Grant, President,
Children's Court of Victoria, 14 January 2013.
State of Victoria, Sentencing Advisory Council,
`Comparing Sentencing Outcomes', above n 49, 31.
Key informant interview, Judge Paul Grant, President,
Children's Court of Victoria, 14 January 2013.