‘Colonial document’: Victorian justice department reports raise concerns about welfare of Indigenous young people

Internal reports make clear the Victorian justice department was told within months of the Andrews government passing strict new bail laws in 2017 that they would probably be detrimental to Aboriginal people. Photograph: luoman/Getty Images

Internal reports raise significant concerns about how young people from Aboriginal and African backgrounds are being cared for by the Victorian justice department as it struggles to deal with increasingly complex youth offenders.

The reports show police are failing to refer youths to a support program designed to prevent them from offending, while service providers are keeping information on youth offenders in insecure online databases and some youth justice stakeholders fail to appreciate the concerns Aboriginal families have about the justice system.