State governments across the country have pursued policies that are driving the mass incarceration of First Nations people, according to the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service.
First Nations children are now 27 times more likely to be detained than their non-Indigenous counterparts, compared to 15 times as likely in 2020, according to data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
Following high-profile instances of youth crime, the Victorian and Queensland governments implemented "adult crime, adult time" laws, which allow children to receive adult sentences - and potentially life in prison - for serious crimes.
The NT has similarly lowered the age of criminal responsibility from 12 to 10 years old, as part of a "tough on crime" platform.
But some experts say such policies have fuelled a First Nations incarceration "crisis", prompting more than 200 organisations to sign an open letter calling for the prime minister to call an emergency summit on youth justice.
"Australians are being sold a false choice between safety and children's rights," acting chair of National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services Nerita Waight said.
"The evidence shows you get neither when you jail more kids.
"State and territory governments are pursuing policies that criminalise children and make communities more dangerous - all in the name of political point-scoring."
Locking up these children not only inflicts trauma on them, it also increases their likelihood of reoffending, ultimately increasing future crime, she said.
First Nations young people have long been over-represented in Australia's youth justice systems, but this has only worsened in recent years.
The rate of Indigenous people between the ages of 10 and 17 in detention has increased from 20 per 10,000 in 2020 to 27 per 10,000 in 2024, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare data shows.
In 2025, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention sounded the alarm on Australia's justice system, condemning its treatment of children as a "stain" on its reputation and calling for an end to the over-representation of Indigenous youth.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has previously confirmed Australia was not on track to reduce incarceration rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth.
Though his government has vowed to implement progress for First Nations people since it was elected in 2022, political action has been largely stunted since the failed Voice to Parliament referendum in 2023.
But Ms Waight says the prime minister must urgently act if he truly wants a more just society.
"Our letter is a warning flare," she said.
"Act now, or own the consequences of a new generation being locked up for political gain."
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