Victoria

Quick facts

On an average day in 2020–21, in Victoria:

  • 845 young people aged 10 and over were under youth justice supervision
  • 7.3 per 10,000 young people aged 10–17 were under supervision
  • Indigenous young people were 11 times as likely as non-Indigenous young people to be under youth justice supervision.

Among those under youth justice supervision in Victoria on an average day:

  • 81% were supervised in the community, and the rest in detention
  • 85% were male
  • 16% of those aged 10–17 identified as being of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin
  • 57% 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 29 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 19%, while the rate for those aged 10–17 fell from 11 to 7.3 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 night.

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 Victoria:

  • 845 young people aged 10 and over were under youth justice supervision (Table S128a)
  • 4 in 5 (81%) were supervised in the community (Table S128b), and the rest (19%) were in detention (Table S128c)
  • the rate of supervision was 7.3 per 10,000 young people aged 10–17 (Table S129a)
  • 5.7 per 10,000 young people aged 10–17 were under community-based supervision (Table S129b), and 1.6 per 10,000 were in detention (Table S129c).

Age and sex

On an average day in 2020–21, in Victoria:

  • 53% of those under supervision were aged 10–17, and the rest were 18 and over (in Victoria, some young people aged 18–20 may be sentenced to detention in a youth facility rather than adult prison under the ‘dual track’ system)
  • 85% of those under supervision were male  
  • males and females under supervision were most likely to be aged 18 or over (Table S128a).

 

Vic 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 Victoria. It shows that there were more males under all types of supervision than females. The largest number of males and females were aged 18 and over. 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 Victoria:

  • Indigenous young people made up 1.7% of those aged 10–17 in the general population, but 16% (or 71) of those of the same age under supervision (tables S128a and S143)
  • a similar proportion of Indigenous young people aged 10–17 were under community-based supervision (17% or 61) and a lower proportion in detention (10% or 10) (tables S128b and S128c)
  • Indigenous young people aged 10–17 were 11 times as likely as non-Indigenous young people to be under supervision (68 per 10,000 compared with 7.3 per 10,000) (Table S129a)
  • Indigenous over-representation was similar in community-based supervision (12 times the non-Indigenous rate) and lower in detention (6 times the non-Indigenous rate) (tables S129b and S129c).

Time under supervision

In 2020–21, in Victoria:

  • the median duration of individual periods of supervision that were completed was 246 days in total (about 35 weeks) (Table S29)
  • when all time spent under supervision during the year is considered, young people spent an average of 201 days (29 weeks) under supervision (Table S30).

Sentenced and unsentenced detention

On an average day in 2020–21, in Victoria:

  • over half (57%) of 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
  • 42% 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 Victoria:

  • the number of all young people under supervision fell by 19% (from 1,039 in 2016–17 to 845 in 2020–21) (Table S128a), while the rate fell from 11 to 7.3 per 10,000 young people aged 10–17 (Table S12a)
  • in community-based supervision, the number fell by 20% (Table S128b), while the rate fell from 9.2 to 5.7 per 10,000 young people aged 10–17 (Table S45a)
  • in detention, the number fell by 14% (Table S128c), while the rate fell from 2.0 to 1.6 per 10,000 young people aged 10–17 (Table S83a)
  • the rate of Indigenous young people aged 10–17 under supervision fell from 125 to 68 per 10,000 (Table S12a).

 

Vic 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 Victoria. It shows an overall decline in the rate 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.