Youth who identify as Aboriginal accounted for 27.5 per cent of children strip-searched, despite making up between three and four per cent of the child population.

The figures compiled by the Department of Justice as part of a right to information request have heightened calls from legal groups and Aboriginal bodies to strengthen laws in Tasmania - the weakest in the nation - governing the use of strip-searches on minors.

Tasmanian Prisoners Legal Service chairperson Greg Barns said the practice "amounts to nothing more than state-sanctioned physical abuse".

"The idea that 11 and 12-year-old children should be strip-searched is abhorrent in a civilised society," he said.

"We've heard this complaint before, that people who have suffered sexual abuse find strip-searching extremely traumatic and confronting.

"It needs to stop. It's a clear breach of international conventions such as the Convention of the Rights of the Child.

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"There's a great deal of fear when a child is subjected to this, some are very traumatised by it. It involves the removal of clothing, it's highly invasive."

The data showed 37 children aged 13 were strip-searched, along with 32 aged 14, 48 aged 15, 54 aged 16 and 37 aged 17.

Eighty-three were carried out at Launceston Reception Prison, in the police station, and 135 were at Hobart Reception Prison. The searches are undertaken by Tasmania Prison Service custodial officers, and do not necessarily involve police officers.

The figures do not account for strip-searches undertaken at Ashley Youth Detention Centre.

Several instances of the strip-searching of minors have been highlighted since the start of 2019, including a 13-year-old Aboriginal girl who was strip-searched after she was allegedly falsely taken into custody by police. In February, an 11-year-old boy was strip-searched and held in custody during a mock arrest.

A spokesperson for the Department of Justice said a review was under way.

"The Department of Justice is currently reviewing its procedures and balancing the security and self-harm risks with the dignity and wellbeing of minors," the spokesperson said.

Tasmanian Commissioner for Children and Young People, Leanne McLean, was developing advice for the government as part of the review, and said she was "extremely concerned" about the use of strip-searches on minors.

The state government resisted calls for a review into laws - including from then-Opposition police spokesperson Elise Archer - in 2012 after a 12-year-old girl was twice strip-searched following a raid on a Rokeby premises. The girl was not charged with an offence.

Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania chairperson Michael Mansell said the trauma of undergoing a strip-search was long-lasting for children, and further harmed their relationship with police.

"There is no justification of stripping of children just for being picked up on bail, or ever," he said.

"What the long-term impact is will be seen in due course, but it's absolutely irresponsible of the government to allow these things to happen in this day and age."

A total of 250 youth offenders were charged and presented to court in Tasmania in 2018, including 60 in the Northern region, 130 in the Southern region and 59 in the Western region.