The number of young Aboriginal people in custody in New South Wales increased almost 22 per cent in the last year as new youth bail laws have taken effect.
New 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.
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.
"The increase in young people in custody since December 2023 is mainly due to an increased number of young people on remand," BOSCAR executive director Jackie Fitzgerald said.
Ms 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".
"The main factor driving the increase in remand is a rise in the bail refusal rate," she said.
"Over the past two years there has been [a] rise in the bail refusal rate for young people, from 13.7 per cent in 2023 to 15 per cent in 2024."
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.
Latest data shows youth crime rates have remained steady, despite a larger focus from sections of the media and politicians, with only a slight increase in shoplifting offences.
The main offences driving the increase in the youth remand population are break and enter and assault, BOSCAR data revealed.
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.
Set to expire in April, the government announced earlier this month they would extend the 'trial' for three more years, which is expected to be introduced into parliament this week.
They were cited as likely to exacerbate Indigenous youth incarceration, something accepted by the government at the time.
Premier Chris Minns said earlier this month 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."
Nonetheless, when the trial extension was announced, Ms Warner said the laws would only ensure communities become more dangerous in the future.
"Bad policy is easy to print in a tabloid, but impossible to implement safely and impossible to undo in a child's life," she said.
"The Premier must answer this question: is your objective to reduce crime or to improve headlines? We appeal to Premier Minns to deliver good government guided by evidence."
In NSW, youth incarceration costs $2,814 per child, per day, according to 2023-24 Productivity Commission data, with the state spending over $223 million to imprison children and young people.
"Locking kids up has never worked, anywhere," Ms Warner said.
"Yet at a time when families are struggling under the cost-of-living crisis, the NSW Government is costing taxpayers millions in with its failed bail laws and law-and-order rhetoric."
Speaking last week, NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley said the main focus on preventing youth crime was stopping it at its source.
