New South Wales

This fact sheet summarises key findings of young people under youth justice supervision for New South Wales, including the number and rate of young people under community-based supervision and in detention. It also summarises data on young people by age, sex, Indigenous status, legal status, time under supervision and contains trends.

Impact of COVID-19 on youth justice data

This report includes data from March 2020 to June 2022, 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 and more research is required.

Number and rate

On an average day in 2021–22, in New South Wales:

  • 1,087 young people aged 10 and over were under youth justice supervision (Table S127a)
  • Around 4 in 5 (83%) were supervised in the community (Table S127b), and the rest (17%) in detention (Table S127c)
  • the rate of supervision was 12 per 10,000 young people aged 10–17 (Table S128a)
  • 10 per 10,000 young people aged 10–17 were under community-based supervision (Table S128b), and 1.9 per 10,000 were in detention (Table S128c).

Age and sex

On an average day in 2021–22, 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 S127a).
     

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.

Visualisation not available for printing

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people

On an average day in 2021–22, in New South Wales:

  • Indigenous young people made up 6.2% of those aged 10–17 in the general population, but 45% (or 430) of those of the same age under supervision (tables S127a and S144)
  • Similar proportions of Indigenous young people aged 10–17 were under community-based supervision (43% or 355) and detention (53% or 78) (tables S127b and S127c)
  • Indigenous young people aged 10–17 were 13 times as likely as non-Indigenous young people to be under supervision (87 per 10,000 compared with 6.6 per 10,000) (Table S128a)
  • Indigenous over-representation was similar in community-based supervision (13 times the non-Indigenous rate) in detention (17 times the non-Indigenous rate) (tables S128b and S128c)

Time under supervision

In 2021–22, in New South Wales:

  • completed periods of supervision lasted a median length of 45 days (almost 6 weeks) (Table S29)
  • when all time spent under supervision during the year is considered, young people spent an average of 165 days (nearly 24 weeks) under supervision (Table S30).

Sentenced and unsentenced detention

On an average day in 2021–22, in New South Wales:

  • almost 3 in 4 (72%) 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
  • 28% of young people in detention were serving a sentence (Table S108a).

Trends to 2021–22

Over the 5 years to 2021–22, on an average day, in New South Wales:

  • the number of young people under supervision fell by 21% (from 1,376 in 2017–18 to 1,087 in 2021–22) (Table S127a), while the rate fell from 16 to 12 per 10,000 young people aged 10–17 (Table S12a)
  • in community-based supervision, the number fell by 17% (Table S127b), while the rate fell from 13 to 10 per 10,000 (Table S45a)
  • in detention, the number fell by 35% (Table S127c), while the rate fell from 3.1 to 1.9 per 10,000 (Table 83a)
  • the rate for Indigenous young people under supervision fell, overall, from 117 to 87 per 10,000 (Table S12a). 
     

This line graph shows the number and rate of young people under supervision, community-based supervision and detention over the 5 years from 2017-18 to 2021-22 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 2021–22 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.

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