Young Aborigines' arrest rates against country's trend

Young Aborigines continue to be arrested and jailed at an alarming rate despite falls in juvenile court appearances and detention across Australia.

A study shows that while most other young offenders receive cautions from police or are directed to other diversionary measures, indigenous juveniles are 28 times more likely to be detained as non-Aboriginal youths.

Even when facing the same charges, Aboriginal youths in some states are more likely to be convicted, the study by the Australian Institute of Criminology found.

They are also three times more likely to become victims of crime, and are five times more likely to be the subjects of child protection substantiations for physical or emotional abuse and neglect.

"The report once again demonstrates that indigenous juveniles continued to be over-represented in almost every area, as both victims and offenders," institute director Adam Tomison said.

The study said that over the past decade the overall number of cases heard in children's courts had declined and the rate of juveniles in detention had fallen in the past 25 years to an average daily total of about 800.

But police and courts remain tough on young Aborigines.

In New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory, they are more likely than other Australian juveniles to be arrested.

The study said that across Australia indigenous juveniles were more likely than other young offenders to be placed under supervision.

More than two-thirds of all juveniles under supervision in 2006-07 were Aboriginal, a rate 14 times that of non-indigenous juveniles.

"Although these [figures] must be interpreted with caution ... they nonetheless indicate that indigenous juveniles are dramatically over-represented among juveniles under supervision in Australia."