Half of Australia’s youth detainees are Indigenous children, research finds

Indigenous children in the criminal justice system are younger than non‑Indigenous counterparts and more likely from remote and poorer areas, a report has found. Photograph: Jonny Weeks/The Guardian

Almost half of all young people in detention in Australia are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, even though the overall number of children going to jail has fallen in the past five years, research shows.

Young Indigenous people are only 5.8% of all young people aged 10-17 in Australia but make up 49% of all young people in detention, according to the latest data released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).