The recent fatal beating of a young Aboriginal boy in Perth has shone a light on a range of issues impacting Aboriginal youth in the community.

Sadly, it’s something that happens everywhere, including on the streets of Mparntwe, or Alice Springs, where we’re calling into today.

Northern Australia is no stranger to headlines about youth crime rates.

The Northern Territory has the highest rate of youth imprisonment in the country. It locks up kids at a rate of about five times the national average, and over the last year we have data for, the number of kids in detention rose by seventy-eight per cent in twelve months. But kids in the Territory aren’t acting out five times more frequently than kids elsewhere.

Today, we speak with Arrernte and Amjatere elder Pat Ansell Dodds about the bigger picture of youth crime in the Northern Territory – and the role country, culture and respect play in keeping kids out of trouble.