Arabic version: ارتفاع أعداد الشباب المحتجزين في مراكز التوقيف الشرطية بالإقليم الشمالي

According to ABC News, confidential Northern Territory Police data released through Freedom of Information laws shows 503 youths were taken into custody in NT police watch houses between March and September 2025. More than 90 per cent of those youths were Indigenous.

The data recorded 934 youth custody incidents during the period, indicating that many of the children and teenagers were repeat offenders. It also showed more than 100 additional youths were held in police station cells in Darwin, Katherine, Tennant Creek, Alice Springs and Palmerston compared with the preceding six months.

Earlier FOI data, covering August 2024 to March 2025, recorded 870 youth custody incidents involving 402 youths. The datasets cannot be used to assess longer-term trends because NT Police youth watch-house data is not publicly accessible outside lengthy and costly FOI processes.

An NT Police spokesperson said legislative changes after the Country Liberal Party’s election, including lowering the age of criminal responsibility from 12 to 10 in October 2024 and tougher youth bail laws, may have contributed to the increase. The spokesperson also cited offending patterns, repeat offending, bail compliance, court outcomes and police enforcement activity.

Police cautioned that records of time spent in watch houses, including some entries of up to 60 days, may be erroneous because of manual data entry and historical record issues. Senator Lidia Thorpe called the lack of accurate custody-duration data “extremely worrying”, while Indigenous Australians Minister Malarndirri McCarthy urged investment in diversion programs and cited a community-led justice reinvestment program on Groote Eylandt.