Glossary
1 person year: The amount of time equivalent to one person spending 1 year at risk.
community-based sentence/supervision: A sentence that requires the young person to be supervised by a youth justice agency within the community. This includes orders such as probation, suspended detention, parole, and supervised release.
detention sentence: A sentence that requires the young person to be detained in a youth justice facility.
incidence rate of return: The rate at which young people received an additional supervised sentence in the youth justice population over a specified period. The period was from the end of the index sentence to either the start of a subsequent sentence or turning 18.
index sentence: The sentence from which returns to sentenced supervision are counted.
pseudo-recidivism: Where offences committed before the index offence but adjudicated after the index offence are falsely captured as recidivist acts.
For example, offence A was committed on 1 January, and the related sentence started on 1 June and ended on 30 June. Offence B was committed on 1 February, and the related sentence started on 1 March and ended on 15 March.
If offence dates are used, offence A is correctly considered the index offence, and offence B the recidivist act. But if sentence dates are used (and the offence dates are unknown), the sentence for offence B is incorrectly considered the index order, and the sentence for offence A is considered the return order.
rate of return: The proportion of young people returned to sentenced supervision out of all young people who could have returned to sentenced youth justice supervision.
returned to sentenced supervision: When a young person received an additional supervised sentence following one or more previous supervised sentences.
sentenced supervision: Any form of sentenced youth justice supervision (community-based or detention).
supervised sentence: See sentenced supervision.