A year on from contentious bail laws being introduced in New South Wales, Aboriginal children are being locked up for crimes which don't attract jail sentences.
The new bail laws introduced last year outraged youth and Indigenous advocates, as well as many in the NSW Labor party, and were labelled a "devastating betrayal of Aboriginal children in NSW" by Aboriginal Legal Service (ALS) NSW chief executive Karly Warner.
On Friday, the ALS said the laws are causing more harm to children and communities in NSW, despite Premier Chris Minns previously arguing they are working by pointing to an increase in the number of children in custody.
"These are cruel, tragic and dangerous laws," Ms Warner said. "When you lock children up, you lock them into a life of crime."
Data from the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOSCAR) found an increasing number of children and young people are spending time in custody after being denied bail, contravening a recommendation from the 1991 Royal Commission into Indigenous Deaths in Custody.
Ms Warner said the bail laws are not capable of reducing crime. Instead, she said, "They are just a tool for warehousing people in jails instead of dealing with the issues that bring them into contact with police in the first place".
"Children represented by ALS are being locked up for crimes that would never attract a jail sentence if convicted, and being exposed to an apprenticeship in more serious offending in custody," Ms Warner said.
In December 2024, 129 Aboriginal young people were in detention—57.3 per cent of the youth detention population and an increase of 23 people (21.7 per cent) in 12 months.
NSW is a signatory to the Closing the Gap agreement, which calls for a 30 per cent reduction in the rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people (aged 10-17 years) in detention.
In February, BOSCAR executive director Jackie Fitzgerald said the 32 per cent increase in the youth custody population was the result of more young people being held on remand after an "increase in the severity of bail decisions".
This has seen a 22.6 per cent rise in the number of Aboriginal young people incarcerated on remand, whilst the number of sentenced First Nations young people remained relatively stable in the previous 12 months.
In response, Premier Minns said data revealing more children were denied bail showed the laws were working.
"Under our bail laws, alleged offenders are more than twice as likely to be denied bail," he said. "The bail laws need to be retained - and that's exactly what we are doing."
Earlier this year, the government announced it would extend the 'trial' for three more years, without the planned one-year review.
The ALS said the new laws prohibited their clients from accessing therapeutic supports and services, whilst otherwise eligible children have been forced to withdraw from "culturally appropriate" options, including the Youth Koori Court, as well as community-based therapeutic support and treatment, "due to the new 'high degree of confidence' bail test".
Furthermore, many children are refused bail on charges that are later withdrawn by police or dismissed.
"These laws are going to have a permanent and dangerous effect for NSW communities," Ms Warner said.
"They will increase crime. They are destroying the lives of our children, and communities will experience increased crime as a result."
In NSW, youth incarceration costs $2,814 per child, per day, according to 2023-24 Productivity Commission data, with the state spending more than $223 million to imprison children and young people.
