Strip-searching of First Nations children by Victoria police ‘state-sanctioned violence’, inquiry hears

Victoria’s Indigenous legal service has called for an independent police oversight body to be established, citing systemic racism in the criminal justice system. Photograph: Con Chronis/AAP

First Nations children are routinely strip-searched by police and it amounts to “state-sanctioned violence”, a defence lawyer has told Victoria’s Indigenous truth-telling commission.

Tessa Theocharous told the Yoorrrook Justice Commission that the constant mistreatment of Aboriginal children by Victoria police was rooted in racism.