The following article appeared in newspapers across Australia highlighting the over-representation of Indigenous youth in juvenile justice systems, not just in the State of Western Australia where this case took place, but right across Australia.
 
A 12 year old Aboriginal boy has been charged with receiving stolen goods, a 70 cent chocolate Freddo Frog. The Freddo Frog was stolen by a friend of his. This 12 year old has not had any prior convictions.
 
According to the newspaper report "when the boy last month missed a court date due to a family misunderstanding, police had apprehended him about 8am on a school day and taken him into custody. The boy was then imprisoned for several hours in the holding cell at the police station."
 
Here are some frightening statistics quoted in the article:
"Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youths aged 10 to 17 were nearly 30 times as likely to be in detention on an average day than other children nationally, according to data released this month by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. In WA, the figure is 45 times."
 
This clearly highlights an issue of over-surveillance of Aboriginal youth in this country, especially when petty cases like this are allowed to go to court and involve detaining young so-called offenders.
 
Peter Collins from the Aboriginal Legal Service sums up the reality of policing of Aboriginal youth, especially in WA when he said...
"It's hard not to imagine that if this had of happened to a non-Aboriginal kid from an affluent Perth suburb with professional parents that we wouldn't be in this situation.
"We're strongly of the view that Aboriginal kids in WA are chronically over-policed."
 
Two years ago the Prime Minister of Australia issued an apology to the Indigenous Stolen Generations for their forced removal from their families over an 100 year plus period. He spoke then of closing the gap in education and health between outcomes for Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. Two years on, we still have the Northern Territory Intervention and then this type of case highlighting how far we are away from reconciliation with the Indigenous people in this country. Indeed, are we further away now than what we were two years ago?
 
http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/boy-12-to-fight-stolen-freddo-charges-...