Youth justice in Australia 2023–24

On an average day in 2023–24, most young people under supervision were living in Major cities (54%), or Inner regional or Outer regional areas (34%) before entering supervision (based on postcode of last address) (Table S21a).

About 7.7% had lived in Remote or Very remote areas. A remoteness area could not be determined for 4.9% of young people.

These data contrast with young people aged 10–17 in the general population, where a higher proportion were living in Major cities (71%) and lower proportions were living in Inner regional or Outer regional areas (26%) and in Remote or Very remote areas (1.8%) (tables S144 and S148).

On an average day in 2023–24, First Nations young people under supervision were more likely than non-Indigenous young people to have lived in Inner regional or Outer regional areas (45% compared with 21%) and Remote or Very remote areas (14% compared with 1.0%). First Nations young people under supervision were less likely than non-Indigenous young people to have lived in Major cities (37% compared with 72%) (Table S21a).

Patterns were similar for community-based supervision and detention and largely reflect the geographical distribution of the First Nations Australian population (tables S56a and S96a).

Although most young people under supervision had come from cities and regional areas, those from geographically remote areas had the highest rates of supervision.

On an average day in 2023–24, young people aged 10–17 who were from Very Remote areas (97 per 10,000) were about 11 times as likely to be under supervision as those from Major cities (9.1 per 10,000) (Figure 4.2).

This pattern was similar for young people under community-based supervision and in detention.

On an average day, young people aged 10–17 from Remote areas were about:

• 6 times as likely as those from Major cities to be under community-based supervision
• 6 times as likely to be in detention (tables S57c and S97c).

Young people aged 10–17 from Very remote areas were about:

• 11 times as likely as those from Major cities to be under community-based supervision
• 9 times as likely to be in detention (tables S57c and S97c).

Figure 4.2: Young people aged 10–17 under supervision on an average day, by remoteness of usual residence and supervision type, Australia, 2023–24

Notes

1. Remoteness area could not be determined for 4.9% of young people under youth justice supervision.
2. Age on an average day is calculated based on the age a young person is each day that they are under supervision. If a young person changes age during a period of supervision, the average daily number under supervision will reflect this. Average daily data broken down by age will not be comparable with data in Youth justice in Australia releases before 2019–20.
3. The number and rate of young people on an average day not available for the Northern Territory in 2023–24 for all supervision and community-based supervision.
4. Rates for the Australian Capital Territory and Northern Territory in 2023–24 are for young people aged 12–17 due to the increase to the minimum age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 12 in those jurisdictions.

Source: tables S22c, S57c and S97c.