Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this article contains names of deceased persons.

Kumanjayi White, a 24-year-old Warlpiri man with a disability, died after being restrained by police in a Coles supermarket in Mparntwe/Alice Springs during Reconciliation Week.

Days later, an 68-year-old Wadeye Elder died in police custody at Royal Darwin Hospital, bringing the total of recorded Indigenous deaths in custody to 12 this year.

Despite comprising just 3% of the population, First Nations people account for 20% of all deaths in custody over the past decade, and 30% in 2025 alone.

Advocates say the true number is likely much higher due to inconsistent reporting.

“Having previously worked on monitoring reports at the AIC, there are several reasons why caution is needed in the interpretation of the statistics on deaths in custody,” Dr Amanda Porter, a Yuin woman and Associate Professor of Criminology and Criminal Law, said in a report by the University of Melbourne.

“It’s important to remember the source of these annual monitoring reports is based on data from state police and/or state corrections facilities, which comes with its inherent limitations and biases.”

Community anger escalated with hundreds rallying in Megandjin/Brisbane in June to demand justice.

At the rally, Mununjali activist Will Sim spoke emotionally of the deep pain and frustration felt by many in the community.

“Another Black man has been murdered by the police, another community has been torn apart, another family has been ripped to shreds, my people have been kicked in the guts again by this racist system,” Mr Sim said.

Sim said Kumanjayi’s death reflected intersecting layers of systemic oppression.

“Kumanjayi White was a poor, disabled, Black man from Yuendumu,” he said

“He lived in state supported care. He needed help, like most of us do sometimes, but he did not get help, he got murdered.”

Kevin Yow Yeh, a Wakka Wakka and South Sea Islander man and advocate, said Kumajayi’s death was the result of systemic failures.

“This young man’s death in a Coles supermarket in Alice Springs meets at the intersection of racism and ableism,” he said.

“They started counting our deaths in custody in the early 90s, but make no mistake they’ve been killing us since they arrived.”

Australia’s colonial legacy perpetuates a cycle of intergenerational trauma and injustice.

The last recorded forced removal of First Nations children for “assimilation into white Australia” occurred in the 1970s.

Many of those children, now adults, remain disconnected from their family, culture, and Country.

Today, First Nations children are still removed from their families at disproportionate rates.

Rach McPhail, a Goomeroi woman and Amnesty International’s Campaign Organiser for raising the age of criminal responsibility, said Aboriginal kids were “set up to fail” under current systems.

She said compounding systemic barriers, such as poverty, unstable housing, language barriers and lack of access to culturally appropriate support services, predisposed First Nations youth to incarceration.

“We know that there’s a huge number of kids in prison right now that have got intellectual disabilities,” she said.

“We know that there will be so many kids that are in prison right now that aren’t accessing the proper care that they need, and then therefore it’s not set up for them when they exit out of prison as well, and then the rate of recidivism to go back into prison is really high.”

Speaking from her decade-long background in social services, McPhail said frontline efforts were vital but were not enough unless systemic, policy level change happens.

“Like sticking Band-Aids on a leaky bucket,” she said. “It can only go so far.”

McPhail criticised governments for prioritising prison funding over prevention, calling instead for investment into mob-led programs that empower and heal communities.

“What we are calling for is for that proper support and funding for those grassroots programs that are doing the work already,” she said.

“Some of those programs are literally run out of mob’s pockets.”

McPhail said media narratives were weaponised against First Nations youth.

The so-called “youth crime crisis” pushed by conservative leaders, like Queensland Premier David Crisafulli, stoke fear rather than addressing root causes.

In reality, ABS national statistics show youth crime has decreased over the past decade.

McPhail said the phrase “raise the age” can sound divisive.

When speaking with those who may initially disagree, she finds that reframing the conversation by asking about their own child or grandchild often leads to agreement that children should be supported rather than imprisoned.

McPhail said this human-centred approach as well as storytelling were essential to shifting public understanding.

“If there’s a kid with an intellectual disability who maybe hasn’t been getting the things that they need at home, for example food, and then therefore that kid ends up in a shop and is caught stealing food because they’re really hungry, most people can agree that chucking them in prison is not the best way,” she said.

Australia’s age of criminalisation is a national human rights issue.

The United Nations has repeatedly condemned Australia for criminalising children as young as 10.

McPhail said this was where Amnesty’s campaign would focus over the next five years.

“We’re going to have a real focus on human rights education in regards to the social determinants of youth incarceration,” she said.

McPhail said the long-term consequences of youth incarceration were felt for generations.

“For the 15 or so kids that went into prison today around the country, the impact of that is going to be felt in 50 to 60 years, not just today,” she said.

“By our kids not being able to have their connection with country and culture, means we are losing our future leaders.”

Professor Chelsea Watego, a South Sea Island and Mununjali woman, said it was essential to recognise how racial violence manifests in many forms, from the hyper-incarceration of Black men, women, and children to the death of a young man in a supermarket aisle during Reconciliation Week.

“We must remember that racial violence does not just come down the barrel of a gun, or a knee on the neck,” she said.

“It comes in many forms.”

As of 9 June 2025, the Northern Territory Police continued to refuse calls for an independent investigation into the death of Kumanjayi White.