Summary

Research shows that children and young people who have been abused or neglected are at greater risk of engaging in criminal activity, and entering the youth justice system. A better understanding of the characteristics and pathways of children and young people who are both in the child protection system and under youth justice supervision can help support staff, case workers, and policy makers to get the best outcomes for these children and young people.

Using data from the linked child protection and youth justice supervision data collection, this report presents information on young people who were involved in the child protection system, and also subject to youth justice supervision at some time between 1 July 2014 and 30 June 2016.

The cohort includes young people who were aged 10–16 on 1 July 2014 to ensure all possible youth justice supervision is included across the 2-year period. Results are limited to the 6 jurisdictions with data in both child protection and youth justice national minimum data sets—a total of 47,697 young people (43,326 from child protection, and 7,185 from youth justice).

Young people in the child protection system were 12 times as likely as the general population to also be under youth justice supervision

Between 1 July 2014 and 30 June 2016, 6.5% (2,814) of young people who were in the child protection system were also under youth justice supervision at some point during the same 2-year period, compared with 0.5% of the general population.

The level of youth justice supervision was 10.4% for those under care and protection orders, 10.2% for those in out-of-home care, and 5.7% for those who were the subject of an investigated notification.

Young people under youth justice supervision were 12 times as likely as the general population to also be in the child protection system

Between 1 July 2014 and 30 June 2016, 39.2% (2,814) of young people under youth justice supervision were also in the child protection system.

Those in detention were more likely to also be in the child protection system (43.4%) than those under community-based supervision (39.2%).

The younger people were at first supervision, the more likely they were to also be in the child protection system during the period (62.3% of those aged 10 at first supervision, and 16.7% of those aged 17).

Young Indigenous Australians were more likely than non-Indigenous Australians to be in the child protection system and under youth justice supervision

Between 1 July 2014 and 30 June 2016, young Indigenous Australians aged 10–16 were 16 times as likely as non-Indigenous Australians of the same age to be both in the child protection system and under youth justice supervision.