AIHW media releases

UNDER EMBARGO—until 12.01AM, Thursday, 28 March, 2024

The number and rate of young people under youth justice supervision in Australia have declined in the 5 years since 2018–19, according to a new report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).

Youth justice in Australia 2022–23 shows there were 4,542 young people (aged 10 and over) under supervision on an average day in 2022–23, down 20% from 5,693 in 2018–19.

The rate of young people aged 10–17 under youth supervision fell by 28%, from 18 to 13 per 10,000 young people.

‘On an average day, just over 4 in 5 (82%) young people under supervision were supervised in the community and about 1 in 5 (18%) were in detention, with some supervised in both the community and detention on the same day. The majority (80%) of young people in detention were unsentenced.’

‘Of the young people under supervision in 2022–23, 96% were aged over 14,’ said AIHW spokesperson Ms. Amanda Donges.

The number and rate of young people under youth justice supervision have fallen for both First Nations and non-Indigenous young people, however First Nations young people continue to be over-represented in the youth justice system.

The report shows that the rate for First Nations people aged 10–17 under youth justice supervision fell by 18% in the 5 years to 2018–19, from 161 to 132 per 10,000.

Ms. Donges noted that young people aged 10–17 living in remote areas or from lower socioeconomic areas are more likely to be over-represented in youth justice supervision.

Although most young people aged 10–17 under supervision are from cities and regional areas (84%), those from 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.

Similarly, almost 2 in 5 young people (38%) under supervision on an average day in 2022–23 were from the lowest socioeconomic areas (that is, from an area that is in the 20% of areas with the greatest level of disadvantage), compared with about 1 in 20 young people (4.9%) from the highest socioeconomic areas.

Today’s report is accompanied by 8 fact sheets, profiling youth justice supervision in each state and territory.

Media enquiries: Quinn Guy, AIHW: 0468 525 418