Overview

The youth justice system is the set of processes and practices for managing children and young people who have committed, or allegedly committed, an offence. In Australia, it deals primarily with young people aged 10–17 at the time of the offence, although there are some variations among the states and territories. A major component of the system is the supervision of young people in the community or in detention.

Featured reports

Latest findings

On an average day in 2021–22, 4,536 young people aged 10 and over were under youth justice supervision

82% of young people under supervision on an average day were supervised in the community and the remainder in detention

On an average night in the June quarter 2023, 812 young people were in detention

Most (80%) young people in detention were aged 14–17, the remainder were aged 10–13 (5%) or 18 and over (15%)

53% of those under youth justice supervision in 2020–21 interacted with the child protection system in the last 5 years

28% of those under youth justice supervision in 2020–21 interacted with the child protection system in the same year

More reports and statistics on youth justice can be found under Children & youth and Prisoners.