MEDIA RELEASE

Tuesday 10 November 2026

Today’s statistics from the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) prove yet again that police discretion is failing Aboriginal children.

The BOCSAR study reveals a significant disparity in the likelihood that police will drag Aboriginal children to court compared to non-Aboriginal children. This disparity exists when there is no difference between the seriousness of the alleged offence, prior contact with the criminal justice system and all other factors.

“This adds to a mass of other evidence that NSW police treat Aboriginal children more harshly, even when all circumstances are the same. This gap in police treatment can’t be explained by any objective factor. The only difference is that the child is Aboriginal,” said Sharif Deen, Acting CEO of the Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT).

“There’s no other explanation: Aboriginal children are treated differently by police due to bias and racism.

"This is happening to kids as young as 10, and it’s exposing them to significant danger, harm, and a cycle of contact with the criminal legal system that is hard to escape.

“This is contributing to the current justice crisis where Aboriginal children make up half of all kids in NSW prisons, despite being only 8% of the population.

“It’s up to the Government and Parliament to limit the role of police discretion in determining who gets forced into the criminal legal system, so that the law is applied equally and without discrimination.”

The BOCSAR report can be found at: https://bocsar.nsw.gov.au/research-evaluations/2026/examining-disparities-in-police-diversion-between-aboriginal-and.html