On an average night in Australia, more than 1,000 young Aussies are in juvenile detention and almost half of them are not even sentenced.

A new report, released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW),shows that on an average night in the June quarter of 2011 there were 1,055 young people in detention, and 48% were unsentenced. This appears to be true in almost all of the states and territories, with proportion ranging from 43% to 68% across states and territories. Victoria bucks this trend, with just 22% were unsentenced.

“Young people who are unsentenced are in custody because they are awaiting their next court appearance,” said Nigel Harding, spokesperson for the AIHW, a national agency set up by the Australian Government to provide reliable, regular and relevant information and statistics on the country's health and welfare.

Detention rates were stable over the four years, with around 0.35 young people aged 10-17 per 1,000 in detention in Australia. The rates of unsentenced and sentenced detention showed little change over the 4 years to 2011.

Northern Territory had the highest detention rate. A young Aussie there is twice as likely to be in detention. What’s troubling in the new statistics is that youngsters from indigenous people “continue to be over-represented in juvenile detention in all states and territories.”

On an average night in the June quarter in 2011, an Indigenous young person aged 10-17 was 20 times as likely to be in unsentenced detention and 26 times as likely to be in sentenced detention as a non-Indigenous young person aged 10-17.

Western Australia indicated the highest over-represention. An Indigenous young person aged 10-17 was 29 times as likely to be in unsentenced detention, and 50 times as likely to be in sentenced detention as a non-Indigenous young person.

The press release from the agency did remarked that “the level of Indigenous over-representation fell over the 4 years for both unsentenced and sentenced detention.”

Also Read: Australian Indigenous Youth 'Over-Represented' in Juvenile Detention: Statistics