Northern Territory

This fact sheet summarises key findings of young people under youth justice supervision for the Northern Territory, 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 the Northern Territory:

  • 148 young people aged 10 and over were under youth justice supervision; most were Indigenous (138) (Table S141a)
  • nearly 2 in 3 (65%) were supervised in the community (Table S141b), and the rest (35%) in detention (Table S141c)
  • the rate of supervision was 46 per 10,000 young people aged 10–17 (Table S142a)
  • 27 per 10,000 young people aged 10–17 were under community-based supervision (Table S142b), and 20 per 10,000 were in detention (Table S142c).

Age and sex

On an average day in 2021–22, in the Northern Territory:

  • 82% of those under supervision were aged 10–17, and the rest were 18 and over
  • 87% of those under supervision were male
  • males under supervision were most likely to be aged 17 and females aged 16 (Table S141a).
     

This population pyramid shows the age, sex and Indigenous status under supervision, community-based supervision and detention for the Northern Territory. 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 and the largest number females 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 2021–22, in the Northern Territory:

  • Indigenous young people made up 43% of those aged 10–17 in the general population, but 93% (or 113) of those of the same age under supervision (tables S141a and S144)
  • Similar proportions of Indigenous young people aged 10–17 were under community-based supervision (91% or 64) and detention (95% or 50) (tables S141b and S141c).

Time under supervision

In 2021–22, in the Northern Territory:

  • completed periods of supervision lasted a median length of 19 days (almost 3 weeks) (Table S29)
  • when all time spent under supervision during the year is considered, young people spent an average of 140 days (20 weeks) under supervision (Table S30).

Sentenced and unsentenced detention

On an average day in 2021–22, in the Northern Territory:

  • nearly 4 in 5 (78%) 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
  • 41% of young people in detention were serving a sentence (Table S108a).

The proportion of unsentenced and sentenced young people on an average day does not sum to 100% as periods of sentenced detention in the Northern Territory have been backdated to take into account periods of unsentenced detention already served. This affects about 19% of young people on an average day in detention.

Trends to 2021–22

Over the 5 years to 2021–22, on an average day in the Northern Territory:

  • the number of young people aged 10 and over who were under supervision fell from 170 in 2017–18 to 148 in 2021–22 (Table S141a), while the rate decreased overall from 53 to 46 per 10,000 young people aged 10–17 (Table S12a)
  • in community-based supervision, the number of young people aged 10 and over fell by 26% (Table S141b), while the rate fell from 38 to 27 per 10,000 (Table S45a)
  • in detention, the number rose by 30% (Table 141c), while the rate increased from 16 to 20 per 10,000 (Table S83a).
     

This line graph shows that the rate of community-based supervision was higher than detention over the 5-year period to 2021–22. Overall, all supervision and community-based supervision rates fell from 2017–18 to 2021–22. Detention rates fell slightly from 2017–18 to 2020–21 then remained steady to 2021–22.

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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