New data from the New South Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research has revealed that the number of indigenous youth in custody in New South Wales has dropped by 25%.
Executive director of the Bureau, Jackie Fitzgerald, says while the data allows for cautious optimism about the downward trend of over-representation of indigenous youth in custody, there is a long way still to go.
New South Wales Greens MP David Shoebridge says the report corroborates what First Nations elders and activists have been telling governments about the impact of over-policing on indigenous incarceration rates.