New South Wales

Quick facts

On an average day in 2020–21, in New South Wales:

  • 1,177 young people aged 10 and over were under youth justice supervision
  • 13 per 10,000 young people aged 10–17 were under supervision
  • Indigenous young people were 12 times as likely to be under supervision as non-Indigenous young people.

Of those under supervision in New South Wales on an average day:

  • 83% were supervised in the community, and the rest in detention
  • 82% were male
  • 43% of those aged 10–17 identified as being of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin
  • 64% of those in detention were unsentenced (awaiting the outcome of their court matter or sentencing), and the rest were serving a sentence.

Young people spent an average of around 23 weeks under supervision during the year.

Over the 5 years to 2020–21, the number of young people under supervision on an average day fell by 15%, while the rate for those aged 10–17 fell from 16 to 13 per 10,000.

Impact of COVID-19 on youth justice data

This report includes data from March 2020 to June 2021, which coincides with the presence of COVID-19 in Australia. However, the direct impact of COVID-19 and related social restrictions on the number of young people under youth justice supervision is difficult to determine due to a range of factors including:

  • variability of the data
  • variations in state-based legislation, policy and practice
  • small numbers of young people under youth justice supervision on an average day.

More research is required in order to better understand the impact of COVID-19 and related social restrictions on youth justice supervision across Australia.

Number and rate

On an average day in 2020–21, in New South Wales:

  • 1,177 young people aged 10 and over were under youth justice supervision (Table S126a)
  • around 4 in 5 (83%) were supervised in the community (Table S126b), and the rest (17%) in detention (Table S126c)
  • the rate of supervision was 13 per 10,000 young people aged 10–17 (Table S127a)
  • 11 per 10,000 young people aged 10–17 were under community-based supervision Table S127b), and 1.9 per 10,000 were in detention (Table S127c).

Age and sex

On an average day in 2020–21, in New South Wales:

  • 88% of those under supervision were aged 10–17, and the rest were 18 and over
  • 82% of those under supervision were male
  • males under supervision were most likely to be aged 17 and females were most likely to be 16 (Table S126a).

 

NSW Figure 1: Number of young people under supervision on an average day by age, sex and Indigenous status 2020-21

This population pyramid shows the age, sex and Indigenous status under supervision, community-based supervision and detention for New South Wales. It shows that there were more males under all types of supervision than females. The age distribution of males and females was broadly similar, however males under supervision were slightly older on average than females. The largest number of males under supervision were aged 17, while for females they were aged 16. Very few males and females under supervision were aged 13 and under.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people

On an average day in 2020–21, in New South Wales:

  • Indigenous young people made up 6.2% of those aged 10–17 in the general population, but 43% (or 441) of those of the same age under supervision (tables S126a and S143)
  • similar proportions of Indigenous young people aged 10–17 were under community-based supervision (43% or 380) and detention (42% or 64) (tables S126b and S126c)
  • Indigenous young people aged 10–17 were 12 times as likely as non-Indigenous young people to be under supervision (90 per 10,000 compared with 7.5 per 10,000) (Table S127a)
  • Indigenous over-representation was similar in community-based supervision (12 times the non-Indigenous rate) in detention (11 times the non-Indigenous rate) (tables S127b and S127c).

Time under supervision

In 2020–21, in New South Wales:

  • the median total duration of individual periods of supervision that were completed during the year was 22 days (3 weeks) (Table S29)
  • when all time spent under supervision during the year is considered, young people spent an average of 164 days (nearly 23 weeks) under supervision (Table S30).

Sentenced and unsentenced detention

On an average day in 2020–21, in New South Wales:

  • almost 1 in 3 (64%) young people in detention were unsentenced—that is, they were awaiting the outcome of their court matter, or had been found guilty and were awaiting sentencing
  • 36% of young people in detention were serving a sentence (Table S107a).

Trends to 2020–21

Over the 5 years to 2020–21, on an average day, in New South Wales:

  • the number of young people under supervision fell by 15% (from 1,381 in 2016–17 to 1,177 in 2020–21) (Table S126a), while the rate fell from 16 to 13 per 10,000 young people aged 10–17 (Table S12a)
  • in community-based supervision, the number fell by 12% (Table S126b), while the rate fell from 13 to 11 per 10,000 (Table S45a)
  • in detention, the number fell by 26% (Table S126c), while the rate fell from 3.0 to 1.9 per 10,000 (Table 83a)
  • the rate for Indigenous young people under supervision fell, overall, from 125 to 90 per 10,000 (Table S12a).

 

NSW Figure 2: Number and rate of young people under supervision on an average day, by supervision type, 2016–17 to 2020–21

This line graph shows the number and rate of young people under supervision, community-based supervision and detention over the 5 years from 2016–17 to 2020–21 for New South Wales. It shows an overall decline in the rate of young people in under supervision, community-based supervision and detention.

More information

This fact sheet is part of the Youth justice in Australia 2020–21 release, which includes a report, state and territory fact sheets, and supplementary data tables.

Together, these provide comprehensive information about young people under youth justice supervision in Australia due to their involvement, or alleged involvement, in crime.

For more information see the Youth justice topic.