Youth justice in Australia 2023–24

This section summarises key findings of young people under youth justice supervision for Victoria, 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.

Number and rate

On an average day in 2023–24, in Victoria:

• 514 young people aged 10 and over were under youth justice supervision (Table S128a)
• more than 4 in 5 (82%) were supervised in the community (Table S128b), and the rest (18%) were in detention (Table S128c)
• the rate of supervision was 4.1 per 10,000 young people aged 10–17 (Table S129a)
• 3.3 per 10,000 young people aged 10–17 were under community-based supervision (Table S129b), and 0.8 per 10,000 were in detention (Table S129c).

Age and sex

On an average day in 2023–24, in Victoria:

• 52% 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).
• 89% of those under supervision were male
• males and females under supervision were most likely to be aged 18 or over (Figure 12.1; Table S128a).

Figure 12.1: Number of young people under supervision (any type) on an average day, by age, sex and Indigenous status, Victoria, 2023–24

Notes

1. Age categories are not presented where they represent averages that are equal to or rounded to 0.0.
2. Total includes young people of unknown age, sex and Indigenous status.
3. Number of young people under community-based supervision and in detention may not sum to total number under supervision as young people may be under community-based supervision and in detention on the same day and may be in different age groups.
4. 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, then the average daily number under supervision will reflect this. Average daily data broken down by age will not be comparable to Youth justice in Australia releases prior to 2019–20.
5. The equivalent 'during the year' table or unique counts of young people is not published due to small numbers, confidentiality, and/or reliability concerns.

Source: Youth Justice National Minimum Data Set 2023–24

First Nations young people

On an average day in 2023–24, in Victoria:

• First Nations young people made up 2.1% of those aged 10–17 in the general population, but 18% (or 47) of those of the same age under youth justice supervision (tables S128a and S143)
• a similar proportion of First Nations young people aged 10–17 were under community-based supervision (17% or 38) and in detention (19% or 10) (tables S128b and S128c)
• First Nations young people aged 10–17 were 10 times as likely as non-Indigenous young people to be under supervision (34 per 10,000 compared with 3.4 per 10,000) (Table S129a)
• First Nations over-representation was similar in community-based supervision (9.8 times the non-Indigenous rate) and in detention (11 times the non-Indigenous rate) (tables S129b and S129c).

Time under supervision

In 2023–24, in Victoria:

• completed periods of supervision lasted a median length of 200 days (about 29 weeks) (Table S29)
• when all time spent under supervision during the year is considered, young people spent an average of 193 days (28 weeks) under supervision (Table S30).

Sentenced and unsentenced detention

On an average day in 2023–24, in Victoria:

• about 2 in 3 (65%) 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
• 33% of young people in detention were serving a sentence (proportions might not sum to 100%, as young people may be in sentenced and unsentenced detention on the same day) (Table S108a).

Trends to 2023–24

Over the 5 years to 2023–24, on an average day, in Victoria:

• the number of all young people under supervision fell by 45% (from 927 in 2019–20 to 514 in 2023–24) (Table S128a), while the rate fell from 9.1 to 4.1 per 10,000 young people aged 10–17 (Figure 12.2; Table S15a)
• in community-based supervision, the number fell by 43% (Table S128b), while the rate fell from 7.2 to 3.3 per 10,000 (Figure 12.2; Table S48a)
• in detention, the number fell from 185 in 2019–20 to 93 in 2023–24 (Table S128c), while the rate fell from 1.9 to 0.8 per 10,000 (Figure 12.2; Table S86a)
• the rate for First Nations young people under supervision fell from 69 to 34 per 10,000 (Table S12a).

Figure 12.2: Rate of young people aged 10–17 under supervision on an average day, by supervision type, Victoria, 2019–20 to 2023–24

Notes

1. Total includes young people of unknown age, sex and Indigenous status.
2. Number of young people under community-based supervision and in detention may not sum to total number under supervision as young people may be under community-based supervision and in detention on the same day and may be in different age groups.
3. 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, then the average daily number under supervision will reflect this. Average daily data broken down by age will not be comparable to Youth justice in Australia releases prior to 2019–20.
4. The equivalent 'during the year' table or unique counts of young people is not published due to due to small numbers, confidentiality, and/or reliability concerns.
5. Rates are number of young people per 10,000 relevant population.

Source: Youth Justice National Minimum Data Set (YJ NMDS) 2023–24

More information

This overview is part of the Youth justice in Australia 2023–24 release, which includes a report 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 topic Youth justice.