Indigenous young people and the New South Wales Children's Court: Magistrates' perceptions of the Court's criminal jurisdiction

This article explores the perceptions of New South Wales (NSW) Children�s Court magistrates concerning the issues and challenges facing Indigenous young people coming before the Court in its criminal jurisdiction. Drawing from the NSW component of a national study into Australia�s Children�s Courts, 12 in-depth, semi-structured interviews were thematically analysed. The main challenges for Indigenous young people in the Court are considered and magistrates� attitudes to potential court reform explored, with a specific focus on Indigenous youth sentencing courts. The NSW findings are contextualised within the broader findings on Indigenous young people from the national study of the Children�s Courts.