The key findings within the report are:
- The youngest child subjected to a strip search by NSW Police was a 10-year-old in 2017.
- Two 11-year-old First Nations boys were strip searched in 2017 and 2019.
- In 2023, the youngest children to be strip searched were 12-year-olds (4 girls and 1 boy).
- Over half of these searches occurred within police stations, (824 cases), while the remaining 46.71% (722 cases) occurred in public.
- First Nations children made up almost 45 per cent of children strip searched despite being only 6.2 per cent of the population aged 10-17 in NSW.
- The most recent statistics for the 2023/23 financial year show an increase of over 50% in strip searches of girls.
- The youngest girls to undergo this invasive and often traumatic procedure were 12 years old, including nine First Nations female children and one non-First Nations female child.
- The data reveals that the younger the child, the less likely an item will be found. Although children aged 16 to 17-years-old had a higher percentage of items compared to the younger children, the percentage of items found was still quite low - 30 (16-year-olds) to 45 (17-year-old) per cent.
RLC police accountability solicitor Sam Lee:
“NSW Police have strip searched the equivalent of 51 classes of school children.”
“This report underscores the urgent need for systemic legislative change to reform police practices, particularly in the treatment of children and First Nations communities.”
“Redfern Legal Centre calls on the NSW government to immediately pause the strip searching of children while the government finds a way to ensure that the rights and dignity of children are upheld and protected.”
“Subjecting children to strip searches is harmful. The law must change to protect children.”
“Strip searches constitute an invasive, humiliating, and harmful process and should only be used in exceptional circumstances when no other alternative exists.”
“It is simply unacceptable that these figures continue to overrepresent First Nations children disproportionately.”
