Summary
This report looks at young people who were under youth justice supervision in Australia during 2022–23 because of their involvement or alleged involvement in crime. It explores the key aspects of supervision, both in the community and in detention, as well as recent trends. Some data are included from the period during which COVID-19 and related social restrictions were present in Australia, specifically between March 2020 and June 2022.
About 4,500 young people aged 10 and over were under supervision on an average day
A total of 4,542 young people aged 10 and over were under youth justice supervision on an average day in 2022–23 and 9,157 young people were supervised at some time during the year.
Nearly all young people (96%) under youth justice supervision on an average day were aged 14 and over. This was similar for community-based supervision (96%) and detention (95%).
Among those aged 10–17 under youth justice supervision, the rate of youth justice supervision on an average day in 2022–23 was 13 per 10,000.
Most young people were supervised in the community
Just over 4 in 5 (82%) young people under supervision on an average day were supervised in the community, and about 1 in 5 (18%) were in detention.
The majority of young people in detention were unsentenced
Four in 5 (80%) young people in detention on an average day were unsentenced – that is, they were awaiting the outcome of their legal matter or sentencing.
Young people spent an average of 6 months under supervision
Individual periods of supervision completed during 2022–23 lasted for a median of 90 days or about 3 months. (This includes time under supervision before 1 July 2022 if the period started before that date.)
When all time spent under supervision during 2022–23 is considered (including multiple periods and periods that were not yet completed), young people who were supervised during the year spent an average of 181 days (about 6 months) under supervision.
Supervision rates varied among the states and territories
Rates of youth justice supervision varied among the states and territories, reflecting, in part, the differences in legislation, policies and practices between each jurisdiction.
In 2022–23, the rate of young people aged 10–17 under supervision on an average day ranged from 4.7 per 10,000 in Victoria to 79 per 10,000 in the Northern Territory.
Across each supervision type, the average daily number and the rate of supervision have fallen over the 5 years to 2022–23
Over the 5 years from 2018–19 to 2022–23, the number of young people aged 10 and over under supervision on an average day fell by 20% (from 5,693 to 4,542), while the rate of young people aged 10–17 fell by 28% (from 18 to 13 per 10,000).
Between 2018–19 and 2022–23, the number of young people aged 10 and over under community-based supervision on an average day fell by 22% (from 4,770 to 3,743), while the rate fell 31% (from 15 to 11 per 10,000) for those aged 10–17.
Over the 5 years from 2018–19 to 2022–23, the number of young people aged 10 and over in detention on an average day fell by 13% (from 952 to 828), while the rate of young people aged 10–17 declined by 15% (3.2 to 2.7 per 10,000).
Rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people under supervision have fallen
The vast majority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) young people have never been under supervision, with 1.3% of First Nations young people aged 10–17 being under supervision on an average day in 2022–23.
On an average day in 2022–23, there were:
- 2,423 First Nations young people under youth justice supervision
- 1,958 First Nations young people under community-based supervision
- 483 First Nations young people in detention.
First Nations young people are under youth justice supervision at much higher rates than non-Indigenous young people. Between 2018–19 and 2022–23, the rate of First Nations young people aged 10–17 under supervision on an average day fell from 161 to 132 per 10,000. The rate of non-Indigenous young people under supervision also fell over the period, from 9.3 to 5.8 per 10,000.
The rate of First Nations young people under community-based supervision aged 10–17 declined from 130 per 10,000 in 2018–19 to 103 per 10,000 in 2022–23, while non‑Indigenous rates fell from 8.0 to 4.8 per 10,000.
Over the 5-year period from 2018–19 to 2022–23 the rate for First Nations young people aged 10–17 in detention declined from 32 to 30 per 10,000, while the non-Indigenous rates declined, from 1.4 to 1.1 per 10,000.
Young people in remote areas were more likely to be under supervision
Although most young people under supervision had come from cities and regional areas (84%), those from geographically remote areas had the highest rates of supervision.
On an average day in 2022–23, young people aged 10–17 who were from Very remote areas were 11 times as likely to be under supervision as those from Major cities. This largely reflects the higher proportions of First Nations Australians living in these areas.
Young people from lower socioeconomic areas were more likely to be under supervision
Almost 2 in 5 young people (38%) under supervision on an average day in 2022–23 were from the lowest socioeconomic areas, compared with about 1 in 20 young people (4.9%) from the highest socioeconomic areas.
About 1 in 3 young people were new to supervision
Almost 2 in 5 (38%) young people under youth justice supervision in 2022–23 were new to supervision in that year. The rest (62%) had been supervised in a previous year.
First Nations young people (66%) were slightly more likely than non-Indigenous young people (61%) to have been under supervision in a previous year.
First Nations young people were younger when they entered supervision than their non‑Indigenous counterparts
On average, First Nations young people entered youth justice supervision at a younger age than non-Indigenous young people.
More than a third (34%, or 1,572) of First Nations young people under supervision in 2022–23 were first supervised when aged 10–13 compared with about 1 in 7 (15%, or 634) non‑Indigenous young people.