NSW police divert Aboriginal kids from court 30pc less often than other children

The NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research dropped the findings today, and they land hard. Aboriginal children are 30 per cent less likely to be handed a court diversion by police than non-Aboriginal children, even when the alleged offence qualifies under the Young Offenders Act. That Act lets officers issue a warning, a caution or an intervention instead of sending a kid to court.

BOCSAR executive director Jackie Fitzgerald said the disparity holds even when the alleged offence is eligible for diversion. She put an eight percentage point differential on the table and admitted the data can't account for it. Cooperation with police and possible bias are among the factors she flagged as invisible to the numbers.

The report also stripped out prior offending history and looked only at a child's first contact with police. Even there, 10 per cent of Aboriginal children faced a formal court proceeding, against 5 per cent of non-Aboriginal children. Fitzgerald said about 80 per cent of that difference couldn't be explained by the data.

Age makes it worse. At 10 and 11, an Aboriginal child dealing with police was nearly 15 per cent more likely to be taken to court. By 17, that figure climbs to 36 per cent. BOCSAR labelled the overall disparity concerning, since part of the Young Offenders Act was written to cut the over-representation of Aboriginal children in the justice system.

NSW Aboriginal Legal Service acting chief executive Sharif Deen said the gap "cannot be explained by any other objective factor" and called on the state government and police minister to listen to First Nations communities. "It cannot be acceptable that in 2026 an Aboriginal child, for no reason other than the fact that they are Aboriginal, receives worse treatment from the agency that's designed to protect them," he said. The ALS wants increased and independent oversight of NSW Police. NSW Police has been contacted for comment.