Chart of the day: The kids who make up more than half Australia's child prison population

Updated

Indigenous children make up 5 per cent of Australians aged between 10 and 17, but 50 per cent of children in jail or under community-based supervision on an average day.

In 2016-17, they were 18 times more likely than non-Indigenous children to be under justice supervision, compared with 14 times a decade ago, according to a new report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

The figures are worse when looking only at children in prison. Indigenous youth aged 10-17 make up 55 per cent of Australia's child prison population and are 24 times more likely to be incarcerated than non-Indigenous children.

Many studies have shown intergenerational disadvantage, disconnection from culture, poor health and family violence are significant contributing factors.

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Topics: law-crime-and-justice, prisons-and-punishment, indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, youth, australia

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