Note: Average time spent under supervision was not available for the Northern Territory in 2023–24 for all supervision and community-based supervision.
Source: tables S30, S63 and S102.
During the year, young people spent much more time, on average, in sentenced detention (91 days in total, or about 13 weeks) than in unsentenced detention (55 days, or nearly 8 weeks) (tables S117 and S124). This is to be expected, as young people are typically placed in unsentenced detention for relatively short periods while awaiting the outcome of their legal matter or sentencing.
The total amount of time young people spent in unsentenced detention during 2023–24 ranged from 25 days, on average, in Western Australia to 95 days in Queensland (Figure 7.4).
The average total time spent in sentenced detention was lowest in Tasmania (64 days), and highest in Victoria (120 days) (Figure 7.5).
Males (188 days) spent more time, on average, under supervision during the year than females (162 days) (Table S30). Males and females spent similar lengths of time, on average, under community-based supervision (173 and 174 days, respectively), but males (74 days) spent more than twice as long in detention as females (33 days) (tables S63 and S102).
In 2023–24, First Nations young people on average spent:
- 190 days under supervision during the year and non-Indigenous young people spent 178 days (Table S30)
- 175 days under community-based supervision during the year and non-Indigenous young people spent 173 days (Table S63)
- 69 days in detention during the year and non-Indigenous young people spent 64 days (Table S102)
- 59 days in unsentenced detention during the year and non-Indigenous young people spent 51 days
- 84 days in sentenced detention during the year and non-Indigenous young people spent 104 days (figures 7.4 and 7.5).
