Implementing restorative justice to address Indigenous youth recidivism and over-incarceration in the ACT: navigating law reform dynamics

There is a recurrent and intensifying problem of over-incarceration and recidivism among Indigenous youths in Australia. Although less than five per cent of young Australians are Indigenous, they account for almost half of the youths in detention. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare found that between 2009 and 2013 the level of Indigenous over-representation among detained youths increased from 26 to 31 times the non-Indigenous rate. The latest Indigenous disadvantage report corroborates this trend, finding that the daily average detention rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth increased sharply between 2000-01 and 2007-08 and remained high in 2012-13 at 365 per 100 000 10-17 year olds, around 24 times the rate for non-Indigenous youth. Moreover, Indigenous youth re-offending rates remain consistently high. Between 2003-08, 53 per cent of young Indigenous people who had been arrested were repeat offenders