Socio-economic Outcome 10

ATSI adults are not overrepresented in the criminal justice system.

Target: By 2031, reduce the rate of ATSI adults held in incarceration by at least 15%.

ATSI women constitute 34% of the female prison population, being 20 times more likely to be imprisoned than non-ATSI women and were particularly over-represented in the remand population, with their remand rate exceeding that of non-ATSI women and non-ATSI men.

In Western Australia the ATSI imprisonment rate increased to the second highest incarceration rate of any jurisdiction in Australia. The West Australian Inspector of Custodial Services has reported that the daily average unsentenced population in Western Australia has progressively increased from 18% of the daily average detention population in 2011 to nearly 31% in 2022. WAICS reported that the number of unsentenced ATSI prisoners in WA (51.3% for 2022) has now exceeded non-ATSI prisoners. Over-representation is both a persistent and growing problem—ATSI incarceration rates increased 41% between 2006 and 2016,[1] and the gap between ATSI and non-ATSI imprisonment rates over the decade has widened.[2]

Socio-economic Outcome 11

ATSI youth are not overrepresented in the criminal justice system.

Target: By 2031, reduce the rate of ATSI (10-17 years) in detention by at least 30%.

The minimum age of criminal responsibility in all Australian jurisdictions is currently 10 years old. In 2023, 600 children aged 10 to 13 were incarcerated, with 60% of these children being ATSI. In 2020, the Council of Attorneys-General formed the Age of Criminal Responsibility Working Group Review to investigate raising the age. The group ultimately decided that “more work needed to be done” before they recommended the raise in age.

In July 2023, the West Australian Supreme Court ruled that three detainees were unlawfully subjected to ‘solitary confinement' in their cells on a frequent basis’, at the Banksia Hill Youth Detention Centre and Unit 18 of Casuarina Prison.

The Human Rights Commission holds grave concerns about the state of Australia’s youth justice systems and has repeatedly called ‘on all Australian governments to urgently address the national crisis in youth justice to prevent further harm to children in detention, and to reduce youth offending through effective systems of support’.

State governments support public policies which are increasing the numbers of ATSI children in detention with most jurisdictions introducing legislation which places children in custody as unsentenced prisoners, thereby entrenching their experience with the prison system before they are sentenced.