Aboriginal youth justice focus of inquiry

THE Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Young People, Justin Mohamed, will be in Geelong this week for the Koori Youth Justice Taskforce, and the Commission’s related independent inquiry.

Both events are seeking answers to the issue of the over-representation of Aboriginal children and young people in Victoria’s youth justice system.

The taskforce is a joint project with the Department of Justice and Community Safety, and was a recommendation of the 2017 youth justice review by Penny Armytage and Professor James Ogloff.

The separate Our Youth, Our Way inquiry is run independently by the Commission, and will be tabled in parliament next March.

Its focus is on talking to Aboriginal children and young people, their families and communities to get a broader picture building on the data gathered by the taskforce on the specific youth justice involvement of Aboriginal children and young people region by region.

They are heavily overrepresented in Victoria’s youth justice system.

In 2015-16, 198, or 16 per cent, of young people in the Victorian youth justice system identified as Koori.

Yet, Koori young people comprise only 1.6 per cent of the Victorian population aged 10-18 years.

In Victoria, compared to non-Koori youth, a Koori young person is 13 times more likely to be in detention.

Aboriginal children and young people are also strongly over-represented in child protection and out-of-home care, with the link between the state care system and youth justice involvement particularly strong for Aboriginal children and young people.

Geelong is the fifth of 13 regional forums slated for the taskforce across Victoria.