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.

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

Latest findings

On an average day in 2016–17, 5,359 young people aged 10 and over were under youth justice supervision More than half (54%) of all young people in detention on an average night in the June quarter 2018 were Indigenous On an average night in the June quarter 2018, 980 young people were in detention On an average night in the June quarter 2018, 90% of young people in detention were male The Indigenous supervision rate rose from 15 to 18 times the non-Indigenous rate between 2012–13 and 2016–17 Of the young people under supervision on an average day, 83% were supervised in the community and 17% were in detention 60% of young people in detention on an average night in the June quarter 2018 were unsentenced Most (84%) young people in detention were aged 10–17, the remainder (16%) were aged 18 and older From the June quarter 2014 to the June quarter 2018 the detention rate fluctuated at 2.8–3.5 per 10,000 The number of young people aged 10–17 under supervision on an average day fell by 16% between 2012–13 and 2016–17 Indigenous people make up only 5% of those aged 10–17 in Australia, but made up 50% of all those under supervision

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Highlights