Youth justice in Australia 2024-25

New South Wales

Policy directions

Key policy directions in Youth Justice^[1] New South Wales include:

• through the creation of the Department of Communities and Justice, working more collaboratively to support shared clients in child protection, out of home care and youth justice, to improve their individual circumstances and life trajectory
• diverting young people under the Young Offenders Act 1997, through the use of warnings, cautions (administered by the New South Wales Police Force) and the Youth Justice Conferencing scheme (administered by Youth Justice NSW)
• intervening early in a young person’s criminal trajectory with evidence-based programs such as the Youth on Track program and collaborating in whole-of-government initiatives including the Short-Term Remand Project
• providing bail support and accommodation through the Bail Accommodation Support Service, to reduce the number of young people on remand unnecessarily due to a lack of availability of suitable accommodation  
• a deep commitment to delivering better outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people, their families and communities by embedding Culture into Practice through Aboriginal Practice Officers and the Aboriginal Practice Mandate. Aboriginal Practice Officers use their knowledge and lived experience around culture to intervene with Aboriginal Youth Justice clients around offending behaviour
• provision of culturally appropriate services for young people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, guided by a range of multicultural initiatives
• identifying and supporting young people experiencing and/or using violence in the home to ensure they receive the specialist support  
• recognising and responding to the overrepresentation of young people in the justice system with disability, mental health and other health needs through upskilling our workforce and strengthening referral pathways
• working in a way that protects young people from abuse, keeping them safe when they are in the care of Youth Justice, and empowering them to realise their full potential in line with the Child Safe Standards produced by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse
• strengthening pre- and post-release supports with individualised exit‑planning for all young people leaving custody, and partnerships with non-government service providers to deliver programs designed to connect young people with supports in the community

Youth Justice NSW is focused on targets to contribute to NSW Government implementation plan under the National Agreement for Closing the Gap, specifically to deliver reductions in the numbers of Aboriginal young people in custody.

Agencies

Youth Justice NSW

The Department of Communities and Justice^[2] is responsible for providing youth justice services in New South Wales. These services are provided by the agency Youth Justice NSW.

Youth Justice NSW is responsible for:

• supervising young people sentenced to community-based or custodial orders
• supporting young people to meet the conditions of bail
• supervising young people who are on conditional bail or remanded in custody
• preparing reports for the courts to consider in determining sentences
• managing the Youth on Track early intervention program
• administering Youth Justice Conferencing
• supporting young people who may have fines to register under the Work and Development Order scheme
• delivering interventions designed to reduce reoffending
• Specialised practice-based assessments and interventions for youth offenders that are at risk of or engaged in extremism including terrorism offences
• funding non-government service partners to deliver complementary services to facilitate young people’s reintegration into community.

Youth Justice NSW operates 34 community offices and 6 youth justice centres.

Youth Justice NSW shares responsibility for addressing the offending behaviour of young people with a number of other NSW agencies including the Justice Health and Forensic Mental Health Network (JHFMHN); the Department of Education; and other Department of Communities and Justice entities.  

Youth Justice NSW implemented a Strategic Plan 2024-2030 which drives the significant reform the agency is currently undergoing in response to the National Agreement on Closing the Gap and creating better outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, families, and communities in contact with the criminal justice system in NSW. Youth Justice NSW will achieve these outcomes by actions oriented under the four priority reforms which reflects a strategic shift toward culturally responsive, community-led, and outcomes-focused service delivery.

Youth Justice NSW has implemented an Anti-Racism Plan to transform the organisation so that it is culturally safe and responsive for all young people and their families, as well as our workforce. 

Police

Youth Justice works closely with police. Police may choose to use alternatives to court proceedings, such as warnings, cautions or referral to Youth Justice Conferences, as set out in the Young Offenders Act 1997, or may commence court proceedings under the Children (Criminal Proceedings) Act 1987. Police may also refer young people to the Youth on Track early intervention scheme.

Police also provide specialist support to young people through the Youth Crime Prevention Command, in collaboration with Police and Community Youth Clubs, and engage young people through a variety of recreational and social programs.

Courts

Court proceedings against young people who are alleged to have committed an offence and are not eligible to be diverted under the Young Offenders Act 1997 are governed principally by the Children (Criminal Proceedings) Act 1987.

Possible outcomes for young people appearing before the court include:

• diversion, dismissal or withdrawal of case: including under Section 32 of the Mental‑Health (Forensic Provisions) Act 1990 which gives the court the power to divert a defendant who is suffering from a mental health condition into the care and treatment of mental health professionals rather than dealing with them through the criminal justice system
• unsupervised options: cautions, fines, good behaviour bonds
• supervised community-based orders: good behaviour bond, probation, community service orders
• custodial orders
• youth justice conference.

Within seven Children’s Court locations, young people also have access to the Children’s Court Assistance Scheme where trained youth workers provide support to young people and their families while in court including referrals to support services following court.

Elements, programs and services

Diversion

The Young Offenders Act 1997 provides for warnings, cautions and Youth Justice Conferencing in New South Wales. Youth Justice Conferencing is a restorative justice process that facilitates a meeting between the young person, the victim and other support people. Not all young people are eligible for a Youth Justice Conference. Some categories of offence, such as sexual assault, serious drug offences, breaches of apprehended violence orders, traffic offences and offences causing death, can be dealt with only by a court.

Early intervention

Youth Justice NSW contracts non-government service providers to deliver the Youth on Track early intervention scheme in nine sites across New South Wales. Six of the nine sites are delivered by Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCO). The scheme is designed to coordinate services for 10–17-year-olds who are at risk of long-term involvement with the justice system, and their families, to address the underlying causes of their offending. Young people can be referred to the scheme by NSW Police, school staff, solicitors, and other community and health services without requiring a court order. Youth Justice NSW can also refer eligible young people to this scheme.

Supported accommodation and bail programs

Youth Justice NSW provides bail support and remand interventions to help young people meet their bail conditions and avoid unnecessary placement in custodial remand.

Community‑based staff work with young people, court officials and other service providers to ensure that, where appropriate, young people can remain in the community while being supervised for compliance with bail conditions.

The Bail Accommodation Support Service (BASS) provides an after-hours service for police who are considering granting conditional bail to a young person in their custody. The service also receives referrals from courts, Youth Justice centres and community offices. It aims to assist in the granting of conditional bail to divert young people from unnecessary short-term remand. The BASS also works to improve pathways into the broader Youth Specialist Homelessness Service system.

A multi-agency Short-Term Remand Project Steering Committee (with senior executive representatives from NSW Police, the Children’s Court of NSW, the Department of Communities and Justice, NSW Education, Legal Aid NSW, The Advocate for Children and Young people, and Aboriginal Legal Service NSW/ACT) aims to identify the drivers of short-term remand and then develop and implement a suite of reforms, to address this issue, through coordinated multi-agency responses, volunteer support networks, and culturally safe service delivery through Aboriginal community controlled organisations.

With a focus on young people on remand, A Place to Go provides targeted intervention for 10-17 year olds in contact with the justice system. Operating in Nepean Police Area Command and Parramatta Children's Court, it offers wraparound supports to prevent reoffending and reduce custodial entry, presenting a cost-effective alternative to remand.

Case management and Practice Framework

Casework interventions aim to:

• assess a young person’s risks, needs, responsivity issues, strengths and protective factors, using the Youth Level of Service Case Management Inventory—Australian Adaptation (YLS/CMI-AA)
• plan a specific, comprehensive, individualised case plan to address a young person’s criminogenic needs, in collaboration with the young person
• deliver treatments, referral to necessary services and put support systems in place to assist young people to reduce re-offending and build their capacity to attain positive life outcomes
• review and monitor the young person’s progress and advocate on their behalf
• be evidence-based, using key theories and skills underpinned by ‘What Works’
• be trauma-informed and use a strengths-based approach
• be informed by Aboriginal 8 ways learning techniques and processes
• use core effective practice skills, including role clarification, pro-social modelling, collaborative problem solving, and balanced relationships
• use motivational interviewing
• use cognitive behaviour techniques to target underlying pro-criminal attitudes and beliefs.

The Practice Framework outlines the key theories and fundamental skills which underpin the practice and function of all Youth Justice NSW staff in reducing the reoffending behaviour of young people. The Framework provides evidence-based guidance across the spectrum of engagement, assessment, case planning and intervention programs.  

Offence-specific and therapeutic interventions

Youth Justice NSW delivers a range of programs and services within community and custodial environments in accordance with the individual needs of young people, their level of risk, and their ability to respond to program content. Offence-focused interventions incorporate a range of techniques designed to change negative patterns of behaviour and reduce recidivism rates. Some examples of programs offered include:

• the Changing Habits and Reaching Targets (CHART) program, a structured intervention designed specifically for caseworkers to engage and work with young people who require moderate to high intervention to reduce their risk of re-offending
• counselling and therapeutic interventions with a Youth Justice psychologist, particularly when there is complex trauma, more entrenched or violent offending requiring specialised assessment and therapeutic intervention
• X-Roads (pronounced ‘crossroads’), an interactive cognitive-behavioural intervention designed for young people who have significant substance misuse issues.

Working with young people with a disability 

Youth Justice NSW recognises the over-representation of young people with disability among the cohort, and provides a range of strategies to identify and support the vulnerabilities with disability including:

• Youth Justice psychologists, based within the custodial and community settings, who deliver trauma-focussed and culturally responsive therapeutic services for young people who offend and can undertake comprehensive psychological assessment and reports.
• A sensory room in each custodial centre
• Building workforce capacity through training, including ‘Working with young people with disability’ and ‘Youth Justice and the NDIS’ training. 
• An interagency collaborative response through regular consultation with Justice Health & Forensic Mental Health System, and the NDIS Justice Liaison team.
• A centralised disability resource tool kit available to all staff.

Youth Justice NSW is currently developing the Youth Justice Disability Action Plan 2026-2029, which will outline our strategy for continued disability reform over the coming four years.

Support for high-risk and high-needs detainees

In 2020, Youth Justice implemented a new Operating Model including the following key features:

• two High Risk Units, one located in Cobham and the other at Frank Baxter Youth Justice Centre, aimed to de-escalate high-risk behaviours of young people through focused intervention to reintegrate them back to the mainstream units
• an Enhanced Support Unit located in Frank Baxter Youth Justice Centre to provide therapeutic support, including a Speech Pathologist, Occupational Therapist and Clinical Manager, to young people with high risk and high needs
• a High-Risk Young Offender Review Panel (HRYORP) to provide oversight on the management of young people displaying high-risk behaviours across Youth Justice Centres. The panel governs entry and exit decision for the High-Risk Units and the Enhanced Support Unit.

Programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people

Youth Justice is focused on strategies to address the significant over-representation of Aboriginal young people in our system.   Aboriginal-led decision making is key in the design and implementation of programs for Aboriginal young people. Specific programs have been developed and are delivered to Aboriginal young people in Youth Justice Centres and Community offices including:

• Dthina Yuwali, a group work program for Aboriginal young people with substance‑related offending.
• My Journey My Life, developed in 2000 in partnership with Gilgai Aboriginal Centre, is an intergenerational violence prevention program aimed at reducing the incidence of violence against others. A specific version of this program for young women has been developed, Yinnar.  
• Ngudjoong Billa Reintegration and Transition Program is an intensive reintegration and transition support program for Aboriginal young people who are leaving custody or community supervision to build resilience and wellbeing and reduce the risk of reoffending, with a key focus on building cultural identity by strengthening connections to country and family.
• Youth Justice implements the Small Grants Aboriginal Engagement and Innovative Activities Program (AEIA). The AEIA program was developed to provide new avenues for Aboriginal employees to embed Aboriginal cultural practices into their day-to-day work with Youth Justice clients. A key aim of the AEIA Small Grants Program is to drive innovation in practice and responding to Aboriginal young people’s needs by creating opportunities for Aboriginal culturally appropriate engagement.

Work and Development Orders

The Work and Development Order (WDO) scheme is jointly delivered by the Department of Communities and Justice, Revenue NSW and Legal Aid NSW. The voluntary scheme allowing young people to satisfy debt due to outstanding fines through unpaid work, approved courses or treatment. Youth Justice NSW is an approved sponsor for WDO and is one of the largest participating organisations in the scheme.

Pre- and post-release programs

Youth Justice NSW provides pre- and post-release casework in collaboration with other agencies, particularly the Department of Education, NSW Health, and other partners within the Department of Communities and Justice.

The Waratah pre-release unit at the Reiby Youth Justice Centre prepares young people in detention for their release back into the community.

Youth Justice NSW also funds non-government organisations to provide a range of services to young people. These include the delivery of education and health services within Youth Justice Centres, rural residential adolescent alcohol and other drug rehabilitation, post‑release support and accommodation programs, health and mental health support, mentoring programs, cultural support, spiritual and religious support and legal services.

Program evaluation

Core programs and interventions are evaluated either internally by the Research and Information Unit, or by external organisations. Pre- and post-program assessments are used for offending-focused programs. Youth Justice NSW has also engaged the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research to conduct a randomised controlled trial to measure Youth on Track’s impact on reoffending compared to a brief intervention.

Victoria

Within the Department of Justice and Community Safety, Youth Justice is responsible for the statutory supervision of children and young people who come into contact with the Victorian justice system. These children and young people are either supervised in the community, or within Youth Justice custodial facilities. Youth Justice also operates the Children’s Court Youth Diversion Service.

Youth Justice works with children, young people and their families to address the underlying causes of their offending behaviour and helps them to achieve positive change in their lives. Youth Justice also funds community service organisations to deliver supports with a strong focus on diversion, early intervention and an evidence-based rehabilitative approach to reduce the risk of further offending and enhance community safety.

Most young people sentenced to Youth Justice supervision are aged 12–17 (although prior to 30 September 2025 the court could also sentence children aged 10 and 11 years old). However, 18–20-year-old offenders can be sentenced to Youth Justice custodial supervision through Victoria’s dual track system if the court believes the young person has reasonable prospects for rehabilitation, or the young person is particularly impressionable, immature, or likely to be subjected to undesirable influences in an adult prison.

Policy directions

Youth Justice’s approach is guided by a number of key frameworks and policies. These include the following documents:

Youth Justice Strategic Plan 2020-2030 

The Youth Justice Strategic Plan reflects Victoria’s 10-year vision for how we will deliver a leading youth justice system in Victoria.  It is the roadmap for our ongoing commitment to reforming the Youth Justice system, anchored by the landmark Armytage and Ogloff Youth Justice Review and Strategy.

The Strategic Plan’s vision is for Victoria to have a leading youth justice system that reduces offending by children and young people and improves community safety and works with others to provide genuine opportunities for children and young people to turn their lives around.

This vision is supported by four key reform directions for youth justice in Victoria:

1. Improving diversion and supporting early intervention and crime prevention.
2. Reducing reoffending and promoting community safety by supporting children and young people to turn their lives around.
3. Strengthening partnerships with children and young people, families and all services and professionals who support their rehabilitation and positive development.
4. Investing in a skilled, safe and stable Youth Justice.

 Wirkara Kulpa (Aboriginal Youth Justice Strategy)

Wirkara Kulpa is Victoria’s Aboriginal Youth Justice Strategy.

Wirkara Kulpa is about making sure Aboriginal children and young people live culturally rich lives with family and community away from the justice system. Every single Aboriginal child and young person has an abundance of strength and knowledge that deserves to be heard and supported. Improving the youth justice system and services so they always build on children and young peoples’ strengths and listens to their voices, lies at the heart of this document.

Wirkara Kulpa is accompanied by a set of guiding principles that has informed its development and will help to achieve its vision – that Aboriginal children and young people are not in the youth justice system.

These principles are underpinned by, and informed by, self-determination and guide all of Wirkara Kulpa’s actions. These principles are centred around:

• amplifying children and young people’s voice and participation
• Aboriginal cultural values and connection
• valuing the strengths of Aboriginal children and young people
• supporting child and family centred approaches
• embedding trauma informed healing approaches
• promoting and protecting children and young people’s right.

Agencies

Youth Justice, Department of Justice and Community Services (DJCS)

Youth Justice is responsible for Victoria’s youth justice system. 

Youth Justice incorporates custodial and community services. Victoria’s custodial precincts are the Parkville Youth Justice Precinct and the Cherry Creek Youth Justice Precinct. Community Youth Justice has teams based across metropolitan and regional Victoria.

All young people on a supervised youth justice order are case-managed and supervised by a youth justice worker to address their offending, develop their motivation, and support them to lead pro-social lives. 

Typically, this involves the youth justice worker:

• meeting regularly with the young person
• supervising compliance with court-ordered conditions
• assessing the young person’s risk and needs
• planning and facilitating access to targeted interventions such as offending behaviour programs
• collaborating with key statutory and non-statutory agencies to coordinate access to services such as education and housing.

The Youth Justice Community Support Service (YJCSS) provides case work support to complement the statutory case management undertaken by community youth justice teams. The program is managed by Youth Justice and delivered by community sector organisations. The YJCSS model recognises that young people have a range of complex needs that require an individualised response. The program aims to enhance rehabilitation, increase economic participation and improve social connectedness. YJCSS also provides transitional housing support for young people residing in transitional properties across Victoria. 

Police

Victoria Police is responsible for investigating crime in Victoria. In Victoria, police may   caution young people and may refer them to appropriate support services. 

One such service is the Youth Support Service (YSS), which aims to intervene early and divert young people away from the youth justice system by addressing the underlying causes of their offending behaviour. It is managed by Youth Justice and delivered by community sector organisations. The YSS works with young people aged between 10 and 17, following contact with Victoria Police.

Courts/Youth Parole Board

The Criminal Division of the Children’s Court of Victoria has jurisdiction to hear and determine most charges against young people aged between 12 and 17 at the time they allegedly committed an offence. If a young person has turned 19 by the time their court case commences in the Children’s Court, the case is transferred to the appropriate adult court.

The sentencing principles in the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005 distinguish the developmental needs of children and adolescents as separate from the needs of adults. The Children’s Court has a hierarchy of sentencing options for young people convicted of criminal offences that recognise the distinct developmental needs of young people. These include unsupervised orders such as non-accountable undertakings, accountable undertakings, good behaviour bonds and fines as well as supervised orders including community-based supervision orders and custodial orders.

The Youth Justice Act 2024 will update and expand the sentencing and general principles that apply to young people in the youth justice system.

Victoria’s unique dual track system allows adult courts (for example, the Magistrates’ Court and County Court) to sentence young offenders aged between 18 and 20 to serve custodial sentences in youth detention instead of adult prison. For a young offender to qualify for youth detention under the dual track system, the court must believe that he or she has reasonable prospects of rehabilitation, or that he or she is particularly impressionable, immature, or likely to be subjected to undesirable influences in an adult prison.

Each young person ordered by a court to be detained in a custodial centre on a youth justice order is subject to the jurisdiction of the Youth Parole Board, which is empowered to grant parole to young people subject to its jurisdiction. The Board aims to balance the rehabilitative needs of the young person with the safety of the community through supervision and support provided by the community youth justice officers.

Elements, programs and services

Youth Justice seeks to enhance community safety through diverting young people from entering or progressing further into the criminal justice system, providing rehabilitation services to young people at high risk of offending, and delivering pre-release, transition and post release support programs to reduce their risk of reoffending. To complement its legislated obligations and to realise its service objectives, Youth Justice engages with a range of stakeholders. These include other government departments and agencies, community sector organisations and Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations.

Diversion

The Children’s Court Youth Diversion Service assists young people early in their contact with the Children’s Court to address the underlying causes of their offending and prevent further progression into the criminal justice system. Legislation directs that successful completion of a diversion plan will see the court discharge the matter and the child avoid a disclosable criminal record for those offences. 

In addition, the YSS supports the diversion of young people away from the criminal justice system, as discussed above.

Youth Justice Bail Service

The Youth Justice Bail Service operates in the Children’s Court of Victoria, and in the Magistrate’s Court (for young people aged 18-21 years). The service provides bail assessments and advice to the court and provides supervision and support to young people on supervised bail while they await a court outcome. 

YJ bail assessments consider the unique circumstances of the young person, service referrals to address the young person’s needs and assist with supporting bail compliance, the nature of the offending and community safety.

The Youth Justice Bail Service offers Supervised and Intensive Bail, and Enhanced Bail Supervision and Support, with or without electronic monitoring. The YJ bail service provides supervision appointments and referrals to appropriate support services, as determined by a tailored bail plan. YJ provides regular progress reports to the Court for young people on supervised, intensive and enhanced bail.

The Youth Justice Bail After-hours Service (YJBAS) commenced on 30 April 2023. YJBAS is a state-wide, after-hours bail assessment service for young people, delivered by Youth Justice. It provides advice after-hours to bail decision makers including both Bail Justices and the Weekend Online Remand Court. YJBAS is improving engagement with young people, working more closely with other after-hours services, and enhancing handover processes to the Youth Justice custodial and community teams to better support young people.   

Bail justices are volunteers, some of whom are not legally trained, who can make decisions about bail and remand after, or sometimes during, business hours. Victoria is the only jurisdiction in Australia to feature bail justices as part of its bail system.

In May 2017, Victoria also established a Fast Track Remand Court to actively case manage the criminal proceedings of children who are held on remand. The aim of the Fast Track Remand Court is to resolve cases more quickly and to provide earlier access to education and rehabilitation programs. 

The Weekend Online Remand Children’s Court (WORC) commenced on 3 September 2022 and hears online bail and remand applications from across the State over the weekend and public holidays, increasing access to justice for young people. This initiative has expanded access to justice for young people being considered for remand, as matters can now be brought before the Court over the weekend.

Group Conferencing

A legislated,pre-sentence Youth Justice Group Conferencing program exists across Victoria. The program is available to the Children’s Court where a young person has been found guilty of an offence and the court is considering sentencing the young person to youth justice supervision. The conference, facilitated by a convener, must be attended by the young person, their legal representative and the police. Also in attendance may be the young person’s family/carer and the victim or their representative. The aim of the conference is to increase the young person’s understanding of the impact of their offending and reduce the likelihood of their reoffending. The outcome of the conference must be taken into consideration by the court when sentencing the young person.

In 2022, Children’s Court Youth Diversion conferences were introduced to increase access to restorative justice processes for young people at the diversion stage.

Offence-specific and therapeutic programs

The Statewide Rehabilitation Service undertakes forensic risk assessment and intervention for justice-involved young people.   Broadly, there are 3 different types of intervention delivered. These include:

• offence-specific criminogenic manualised intervention programs to directly address criminogenic needs and reduce the risk of reoffending. Programs include the Adolescent Violence Intervention Program (AVIP-2), including the High Intensity Addendum and the Male Adolescent Program for Positive Sexuality (MAPPS). Other criminogenic programs offered include On Track, a motor vehicle related offending program, Pathways to Change, an alcohol and other drugs offending program and Well Families, a family violence program.  These programs are predominantly delivered to sentenced young people by forensically trained clinicians in individual or group formats.
• offence-related programs are five session manualised programs which focus on challenging antisocial attitudes that support offending and manage the risk of reoffending, such as alcohol and other drug (AOD) harm reduction, relapse prevention and psychoeducational programs, risky behaviours programs, problem-solving programs and behavioural change programs. These programs are delivered to young people on remand or sentence by forensically trained clinicians in individual or group formats. 
• psychosocial programs, which are two session manualised programs focusing on improving personal skills and enhancing self awareness, such as anger management, communication skills, understanding alcohol and other drugs, emotional regulation and healthy relationships.  These programs are delivered to young people on remand and sentenced, and are delivered by both clinicians and a non-clinical behaviour support workforce.

Where young people may have multiple complex, criminogenic treatment needs, they may be engaged in individual counselling that draws session plans and modules from the programs listed above to offer an individualised intervention.

Aboriginal Youth Justice Program 

Aboriginal-specific programs have been developed to address the overrepresentation of Aboriginal young people in youth justice and provide culturally safe and responsive services. They are delivered primarily by Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations.

The programs are funded by the department under the auspices of the Aboriginal Justice Agreement phase 4, Burra Loptja Dunduludja, and Wirkara Kulpa, in line with its guiding principles of self-determination.

The Aboriginal Youth Justice Program facilitates culturally safe supports for Aboriginal young people at risk of, or subject to, youth justice involvement. A range of interventions are utilised including connecting to culture through individual and group programs, cultural planning, advocacy, case work and cultural consultation for non-Aboriginal service providers.

Education

Parkville College is a specialist Victorian Government school, operating in both youth justice custodial centres, which provides education to students under youth justice custodial supervision.

In addition to the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE), Parkville College also offers alternatives such as:

• the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning, for senior secondary students to obtain literacy and numeracy skills, practical work experience and a qualification recognised by TAFE institutes and employers
• Vocational Education and Training units for young people undertaking the VCE or those no longer of compulsory school age (17 years or over).

Health and mental health services

Primary health services provided to young people in custodial centres include general practitioner services, general and mental health nursing, , pharmacy, pharmacotherapy treatment, AOD assessment and treatment, pathology, radiology, dental, audiology, optometry, podiatry, physiotherapy, and health promotion activities.

In addition to primary health services, the Custodial Forensic Youth Mental Health Service, a specialist mental health service, is available to young people in custodial centres. This service comprises a multidisciplinary team that provides specialist mental health services for young people in custody, including psychiatry, mental health assessment and treatment, music and art therapy, speech therapy and a specialist neurodevelopmental team.  The Cherry Creek Youth Justice Precinct also has a mental health and wellbeing unit, which is co-staffed by Youth Justice Workers and mental health nurses to undertake intensive mental health assessment and intervention for young people with significant mental health support needs. 

The Community Forensic Youth Mental Health Service provides mental health services to support community mental health services to respond to young people who are exhibiting problem behaviours associated with emerging mental illness and who are at risk of offending. The Community Forensic Youth Mental Health Service provides early intervention support for community mental health services in the North West and Southern Metropolitan areas of Victoria, and secondary consultations to mental health services in other areas of Victoria. 

Queensland

The youth justice system in Queensland applies to youth aged 10 to 17 years. The system integrates a range of custodial, prevention, early intervention, rehabilitation and diversion initiatives to provide earlier responses to reduce the likelihood of youths coming into contact with the youth justice system, and to provide more targeted responses to those engaged in offending behaviour.

This includes the provision of education and rehabilitation through mandated specialised programs and receive intensive staff support and supervision in custody. Youth justice in Queensland is underpinned by the Youth Justice Act 1992 (Qld) (YJ Act).

Policy directions

2024 State Election 

On 26 October 2024, a state election was held in Queensland, resulting in a change of government. From 1 November 2024, the Department of Youth Justice became the Department of Youth Justice and Victim Support (the Department).

The new government introduced changes to the YJ Act through the Making Queensland Safer Act 2024 and the Making Queensland Safer (Adult Crime, Adult Time) Amendment Act 2025. As a result of these amendments: 

• youth who commit specified offences are liable to the same maximum, mandatory, and minimum penalties as adults – the ‘Adult Crime, Adult Time’ sentencing scheme
• there is no longer a principle that detention should be a last resort, or that a non-custodial order is better than detention in promoting a youth’s ability to reintegrate into the community
• a court must have primary regard to any impact on a victim when sentencing youth
• detainees automatically transfer from a youth detention centre to an adult corrective services facility once they turn 18, with the Department’s Director-General having discretion to override the transfer
• cautions, restorative justice agreements, various community-based sentence orders, and breaches of supervised release orders and community-based sentence orders are all included in a youth’s criminal history
• a person’s youth criminal history is admissible when they are sentenced as an adult, for up to five years after the most recent youth entry
• direct victims of youth offences, and immediate family members of victims who have died as a result of the offence, are automatically placed on the ‘eligible persons register’ to receive prescribed information about the custody status of the offender, unless they opt out (removing the need for an application).

The Childrens Court Act 1992 was also amended to ensure relatives of the victim and accredited media may be present during criminal proceedings before a Childrens Court magistrate.

Strategic direction

The Department’s vision is to ensure safer Queensland communities with fewer victims of crime by restoring consequences for action through stronger laws and reducing reoffending through effective early intervention and rehabilitation. The department is committed to supporting victims of crime through the provision of victim support services such as the Victims Advocate Service. 

The Department of Youth Justice and Victim Support Strategic Plan 2025–2029 (PDF, 1.8 MB) provides clear strategies and performance indicators, demonstrating the Department’s role in advancing the Queensland Government’s objectives.    

Agencies

Department of Youth Justice and Victim Support

The Department is responsible for providing youth justice services in Queensland^[3]. The Department is also responsible for providing support to victims of crime, including victims of youth crime.

The Department provides legislated, tertiary, offence-focused interventions and case management for youth subject to a supervised community-based or detention-based order by the court. The Department also has a key role in ensuring the assessed needs of youth are addressed through the delivery of government, non-government and community interventions and supports, including outsourced early intervention and prevention programs. 

For the small cohort of youth who commit serious, repeat offences, the Department delivers intensive responses and high levels of supervision to hold them to account while working intensively with them to turn their lives around. This is done through the provision of evidence-based programs and multi-agency supports to address factors that have contributed to their offending. 

Police

The Queensland Police Service (QPS) is responsible for investigating crime and charging youth with offences. The QPS is the first point of contact for youth entering the criminal justice system. Under the YJ Act, police can divert youth from the Courts by taking no action, administering a caution, referring them to a restorative justice conference, or diverting to a graffiti removal program or drug diversion program. QPS partners with government agencies, non-government organisations, and community groups to link youth with support services and provide pathways to reduce youth offending. 

Courts

Youth aged between 10 and 17 at the time they allegedly commit an offence and who are not diverted by police are dealt with by the Childrens Court (constituted by a magistrate or, for matters proceeding on indictment, a judge) or the Supreme Court (for the most serious offences), under the provisions of the YJ Act and the Childrens Court Act 1992 (Qld).

Depending on each case, the possible outcomes for youth in relation to an offence include:

• Dismissal and caution
• Dismissal and referral to a restorative justice process
• Referral to a drug assessment and education session
• Court diversion referral to a restorative justice process
• Reprimand
• Good behaviour order
• Fine 
• Probation order
• Community service order
• Restorative justice order 
• Graffiti removal order
• Intensive supervision order (for youth under 13)
• Conditional release order (where a detention order is suspended on the condition that the youth participate in an intensive program) 
• Detention order.

Elements, programs and services

Youth Justice Framework for Practice

The Department has developed a Youth Justice Framework for Practice: Our Way of Working (the Framework) to help guide its programs and services. The Framework outlines the required values, principles, knowledge and skills to support quality work with youth, families, partners and communities, and to achieve positive outcomes that drive reduced offending and reoffending. The Framework helps staff, stakeholders and those in contact with the youth justice system understand how they contribute to achieving significant outcomes across the youth justice system through consistent and collaborative practice.

The Department has also developed frameworks to enhance service responses to vulnerable cohorts within the youth justice system. This includes a gendered framework for working with girls and young women in the youth justice system, as well as the Neurodevelopmental Disabilities Framework and Domestic and Family Violence Framework. 

Diversion

The YJ Act provides QPS with the ability to divert a youth who commits an offence from the courts by administering a caution. If the offence committed is a minor drug offence, the QPS may offer the youth an opportunity to attend a drug diversion assessment program. This consists of an education program arranged by Queensland Health.

Where a youth admits to committing a graffiti offence, a QPS officer may refer them to a graffiti removal program instead of bringing the matter before a court. Graffiti removal programs, arranged by the Department, hold youth offenders accountable by requiring them to perform unpaid work to remove graffiti. 

QPS also have access to protected admissions and police cautioning, which enable youth offenders who admit responsibility for certain offences to be provided with other diversionary options such as a caution or referral to restorative justice conferencing.

Restorative justice 

A youth may be referred to a restorative justice process by QPS or the Court. If victims consent to participate in the process, conferences are facilitated between affected parties (i.e. victims, youth offender, families, community representatives, QPS and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders, where relevant) to discuss what happened, the effects of the crime on the victim and how the harm caused can be repaired. A facilitated conference allows participants to talk about what happened and the effects of the offence, with the aim to develop an agreement about how the youth can make reparations. 

Alternative Diversion Processes (ADPs) were introduced in 2016 as an alternative restorative justice process to allow youth to remain diverted in circumstances where it was not possible to progress a restorative justice conference (for example, when a victim is not willing to participate in a conference). ADPs address the causal factors of a youth’s offending and provide an opportunity for youth to take responsibility for their actions.

Restorative justice conferencing has had a positive impact on reducing reoffending. Conferences have also resulted in positive outcomes for victims as it provides them with the opportunity to receive an apology from the youth. 

Under the Adult Crime, Adult Time laws, youth offenders who commit an Adult Crime, Adult Time offence can no longer be sentenced by the Court to a Restorative Justice order as a final outcome. The Making Queensland Safer Act 2024 removed this option as restorative justice orders are not available to adults as a sentencing option.

Early Intervention

Prevention and early intervention are shared community and government responsibilities. A range of government agencies and community stakeholders are working together to prevent youth crime in ways that are tailored to their local communities. These include:

• Crime Prevention Schools, to address education disengagement as a key driver of youth crime to help re-engage at-risk youth and provide them with the tools to build a brighter future to prevent crime before it happens.  Delivered under the Special Assistance Schools model, this initiative will deliver   four new specialised schools across the state in Townsville, Gold Coast, Ipswich and Rockhampton for up to 900 students. 
• Gold Standard Early Intervention Kickstarter grants, which will bring the best research-backed youth intervention models to Queensland, restoring community safety through locally focused, community-led initiatives.
• Proven Initiatives, which will work with youth aged 8-17 demonstrating early signs of criminal and anti-social behaviours and are on a trajectory to entering the youth justice system.
• Regional Reset, which will support youth showing early criminogenic risk factors or anti-social behaviours by equipping them with the skills to divert from crime before they become serious repeat offenders. The program includes short-stay ‘resets’ to address high-risk behaviours including drug and alcohol misuse and anger management issues.
• Circuit Breaker Sentencing, which will offer an alternative to youth detention through intensive, structured and evidence-based rehabilitation.  It will emphasise discipline and consequences to rehabilitaton youth offenders, offering wraparound social an dhealth services to break the cycle of crime.
• Project Booyah, a QPS youth mentoring program that uses adventure-based learning, leadership skills, decision-making/problem-solving exercises, resilience training and family-inclusive principles to help youth aged 14–17 years who are at risk offending or disengaging from education. Framing the Future provides post-program mentoring and support to Project Booyah graduates.
• Early Action Groups, a joint initiative with key government agencies to provide a co-located early intervention and intensive coordination of tailored services and support to youth aged 8-16 years who are at risk of falling into a cycle of crime.
• Youth Co-ResponderTeams (YCRT), which are highly visible, dedicated teams of police and youth justice professionals working together in specially marked cars, engaging with youth at risk of offending or on bail. The teams link youth and their families and carers to local supports and services to get the help they need with issues such as health, education and housing. The majority of YCRT operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 

Bail and support programs  

Conditional Bail Programs assist at-risk youth to remain in the community while their matters are before the courts as a condition of their bail. Programs address educational and vocational needs and mental health issues while providing family intervention and accommodation. They give the court confidence that youth will receive individualised and intensive supervision while they are on bail. 

Queensland is currently trialling the use of electronic monitoring as a bail condition for youth aged 15 or older. Electronic monitoring devices (EMDs), which are GPS enabled, may be fitted to suitable youth as a component of bail conditions. In April 2025, the Youth Justice (Monitoring Devices) Amendment Act 2025 extended the trial to 30 April 2026. The use of EMD is designed to protect community safety. EMDs as a condition of bail are only imposed on repeat offenders charged with ‘prescribed indictable offences’, who would benefit from more intensive bail conditions. Wrap around support and supervision is provided to youth fitted with the devices by YCRTs and intensive bail support services.

Non-government agencies are also funded to deliver support services to improve bail compliance in high demand locations. 

Case management

Youth under the statutory supervision of youth justice service centres and youth detention centres are actively case managed to ensure risk factors linked to a youth’s offending behaviour are addressed at an intensity that reflects the criminogenic needs and risk level of the youth. Case management service responses are informed by a comprehensive risk/needs assessment and a case planning process which engages the youth, their family, other government departments and community stakeholders. Service response plans are reviewed on a regular basis to ensure that service responses remain relevant to their level of risk and needs. 

A collaborative case coordination system, known as Multi-Agency Collaborative Panels, delivers coordinated service responses across Queensland, involving government and non-government agencies, to high-risk youth with complex needs and their families. This includes youth engaged in serious repeat offending. Core member agencies, including the Department, police, child safety, health, education, housing and non-government stakeholders, work together to address challenges and barriers to stop youth offending and keep the community safe. 

Where a youth is offending, they may be referred to a Young Offender Support Service (YOSS) which provides culturally safe, client centred, evidence-based services, including intensive family support aligned with the youth’s assessed needs. YOSS are delivered by non-government organisations funded by the Department. These services integrate with the local community service system and use cultural methods such as connection to country and cultural activities. The program assists youth to obtain stable accommodation and develop skills for relationship-building, health, decision-making and goal setting.

Intensive Case Management (ICM), delivered by the Department, provides additional support for youth aged 10-17 years who are assessed as having a high or very high risk of reoffending, and their families, to help break the cycle of crime. It aims to reduce the frequency and severity of offending by addressing risk and encouraging pro-social decision making and behaviour by the youth and their family. This program provides intensive intervention to address multiple factors that drive chronic youth offending including substance abuse, enhance family and kinship connections and promote engagement in education and training. 

Offence-specific and therapeutic programs

A number of core change-oriented programs and services designed to address criminogenic needs and reduce reoffending are delivered by the Department as part of a youth’s case management. A number of programs are available, including:

• Aggression Replacement Training (ART®), an evidence-based, change-oriented group program designed to influence positive thinking and moral value development for youth with violent or aggressive behaviours. ART® aims to build prosocial skills, enhance positive communication, develop strategies to reduce aggression and regulate emotions and build capacity for youth to consider consequences of their behaviour. 
• Changing Habits and Reaching Targets (CHART), an evidence-based, change-orientated program designed to support youth to reflect on their offending behaviour and develop skills to reduce further offending. 
• Emotional Regulation and Impulse Control (ERIC), which is an evidence-informed change-oriented program designed to encourage healthy social and emotional development by teaching youth skills to better identify, describe, and manage impulsivity, and make better decisions leading to better behaviours. 
• Re-thinking Our Attitudes to Driving (ROAD) is an evidence-informed, change-oriented group program designed to reduce motor vehicle (MV) related offending. Youth are supported to explore thoughts, feelings and behaviours about their MV offending and the impact on victims themselves their families and the community. ROAD develops the youth offender’s awareness of the consequences of unsafe MV behaviours and builds on concepts of victim empathy, understanding emotions and the connections between thoughts and actions. ROAD is delivered together with CHART to address MV offending.

The Department also provides two specific responses, delivered by non-government organisations, for youth who have committed sexual offences:

• Bravehearts Foundation is a specialist counselling service which provides therapeutic intervention for adolescents who have committed sexual offences, their families, and persons harmed and their families and/or significant others where appropriate, who have been referred to restorative justice conferencing processes in the south-east corner of the state. The organisation also provides a telehealth service outside of the south-east corner. 
• Griffith Youth Forensic Service (GYFS) provides evidence-based specialist psychological assessments and treatment services to youth who have sexually offended, their families and communities, including youth held in youth detention centres. 

Programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth

The First Nations Council (FNC) and the Department’s Cultural Capability Team provide cultural advice to the executive leadership of the Department to ensure policies, programs and services are culturally responsive and meet the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Members of the FNC represent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives from Youth Justice. In addition, a cultural practice manager has temporarily been appointed as part of each of the six regional leadership teams to support First Nations staff, assist ongoing cultural capability, and enable culturally responsive practice and service delivery for First Nations youth and their families. 

The Youth Justice First Nations Action Groups (FNAG) and First Nations Action Board (FNAB) have been embedded within the central office, regions and youth detention centres. They ensure all youth justice policies, programs and processes appropriately address the disproportionate representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in contact with the youth justice system. In recognition of individual communities requiring individual and localised responses, members from each region are represented on the Board. 

Youth Detention Cultural Units and cultural staff provide essential frontline support to ensure service delivery respects and promotes youth’s cultural identity. These staff work directly with youth, detention and community-based staff and other stakeholders including families, communities and Elders to promote and provide:

• regular opportunities for youth to participate in culturally specific programs
• community-led cultural healing-based initiatives and services that support cultural wellbeing
• holistic culturally specific therapeutic, intervention and cultural programs
• localised cultural awareness training for all staff members and key stakeholders to ensure that professional conduct and services are culturally appropriate 
• culturally competent case management and transition processes such as kinship mapping, engaging Elders and community members and restorative practices
• regular opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders and/or respected persons to participate in advisory groups to provide cultural leadership, mentoring and advice on policies, procedures and processes. 

• Young Black & Proud (YBP) is an evidence-informed, change-oriented cultural group program delivered by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff in partnership with identified community leaders such as Elders and traditional owners. YBP supports Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander youth to develop and strengthen positive cultural knowledge, awareness and identity through structured activities and passing on cultural knowledge. YBP also supports First Nations young men to build readiness to engage in other programs and services. 
• Black Chicks Talking (BCT) is an evidence-informed, change-oriented cultural group program designed to reduce reoffending, delivered in partnership with First Nations community leaders such as Elders and traditional owners for First Nations young women. The program aims to support cultural connections to community and identify and explore identity, behaviour, experiences, and cultural histories through storytelling, yarning, and adventure activities. 
• Murri Watch Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation provides cultural support to Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander youth detained in watchhouses across Queensland to help meet their welfare and emotional support needs and keep them connected with their family.
• Family-Led Decision Making encourages youth to avoid offending and reoffending through the facilitation of a process which involves the participation of family and community members. During the process, youth are dealt with in a culturally appropriate manner that acknowledges their needs and gives them the opportunity to accept responsibility for their actions and develop responsible, pro-social behaviours.
• Intensive On Country programs provide culture-based rehabilitation for young First Nations peoples under the supervision of senior First Nations leaders. This unique community-led program aims to reduce ongoing offending, using cultural immersion and experiences to address the motivation and pre-contemplative behaviour of youth who commit crime under the one-on-one mentorship of First Nations adult mentors, Elders and traditional owners. The program focuses on high-risk Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander youth and is tailored to their individual needs, with a focus on healing and transferring cultural knowledge to prevent motivation to reoffend.
• Cultural mentoring, where the Department works closely with members of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to provide a cultural mentoring service model as an alternative intervention to QPS charging and/or remanding youth in custody.
• Neuro Ability Support Service works with First Nations youth with suspected neurodevelopmental disabilities who are in the youth justice system and their families to improve access to services (including diagnostic services) to address their disability support needs, particularly where a disability may contribute to a youth’s risk of offending. 
• Building Up Support Service, a Cairns-based trial supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young men and boys aged 10-17 years who are involved in or at risk of involvement in the youth justice system and are displaying abusive, controlling or coercive behaviour towards family members and/or intimate partner. The service provides case management through a healing framework.

Services that address developmental and support needs

Transition to Success (T2S) is an evidence-based, vocational training and behaviour change program delivered by the Department to prevent youth who are involved in the youth justice system from reoffending. The program is delivered in partnership with local community organisations to flexibly tailor the service to its community. The program is delivered in a community setting to youth aged 15 and above with a high or very high risk of reoffending. T2S helps youth address risk factors to re-engage with education, training, and employment and gives youth the opportunity to:

• learn and achieve nationally recognised certificate qualifications
• set goals for their future
• participate in challenge-based activities
• identify and access a number of alternative pathways that divert them from the justice system and keep them out of custody
• build the social, cognitive, and behavioural skills they need to attain and maintain further education and employment.

The Education Justice Initiative is delivered by Department of Education Court Liaison Officers who support youth who appear before the Childrens Court to re-engage in education and training. The initiative provides specialised referral and advocacy services to ensure youth receive support to connect with education or training pathways.

Navigate Your Health (NYH) coordinates the provision of health and development assessments and connects youth with relevant health and support services. This initiative connects youth with a Nurse Navigator to engage primary health care providers, coordinate their health care and meet identified health needs. Nurse Navigators engage community providers, public health, Aboriginal medical services, as well as private and non-government organisation service providers.

Place-based initiatives

Several place-based initiatives have been implemented across Queensland to assist youth in areas that experience higher rates of youth crime, including:

• JTYouGotThis Program is a 10-week program for youth who are at risk of or have early involvement in the youth justice system. Delivered by the Johnathon Thurston Academy in Townsville, Cairns and Mount Isa, the program focuses on enhancing internal strength and building resilience. 
• Community Youth Response and Diversion (CYRD) targets youth aged 10 to 15 years who are at high risk of offending or reoffending but generally not involved in statutory youth justice interventions. Delivered by community-based organisations across a number of locations, the programs consists of diversion services, intensive case management, education bridging support and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural mentoring.
• Transitional youth hubs in Mount Isa and Townsville provide culturally safe after-hours support to youth who are at risk of offending. Hubs aim to provide a safe place and assistance for youth, particularly youth on the streets at night, to divert them from offending behaviours and keep them out of custody. 
• The Youth Crime Prevention Grants brings together the Community Partnership Innovation Grants and the Community Based Crime Action Committee Grants under one overarching program banner to support communities to deliver local programs to youth across the youth justice continuum.
• The Youth Justice Alcohol and Drug Treatment Service helps reduce the impact of drugs and alcohol as a criminogenic factor. The service delivers three 10-bed residential facilities across South-East Queensland, providing three months residential treatment followed by over three years of follow-up treatment. 
• The Cairns Safer Streets initiative is a whole-of-government approach to intervening early, diverting at-risk youth from the justice system and connecting youth to social, recreational, training and employment opportunities.
• Cultural Family Partnerships delivers culturally specific family support services in the context of addressing the in-home factors that may contribute to a youth's risk of offending. The service is culturally specific to African families in the south & west Brisbane corridor, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families in Hervey Bay and surrounding communities, and Pasifika families in the Logan area. 
• Townsville Engagement and Integrated Diversion Service provides late night activities and a place of safety for high risk youth, particularly those with prior engagement in motor vehicle offending and those congregating at shopping centres. 

Youth detention centres 

Youth detention centres (YDCs) continue to focus on the safety, wellbeing, and rehabilitation of youth. In Queensland, Brisbane YDC, West Moreton YDC, Cleveland YDC and the newly commissioned Wacol Youth Remand Centre (opened in April 2025 as an interim option to manage capacity while new YDC infrastructure is built) provide secure accommodation for remanded and sentenced youth to protect the safety of the community and address offending behaviour. 

In 2023, the former Queensland Government announced it would build two new YDCs – one at Woodford in South-East Queensland and one in the Cairns region. Following extensive efforts to identify a suitable location for a new Cairns YDC, community consultation is underway to inform decision-making regarding the location and of a future YDC.

By partnering with agencies such as Health and Education, YDCs address the underlying drivers of offending behaviour through targeted, individualised and goal-orientated case management activities; therapeutic and cultural support; and innovative programs and services which assist youth with achieving rehabilitation goals and reintegration into community. YDC staff work collaboratively with a range of stakeholders to provide on-site services and support to youth. 

Youth Education and Training Centres are led by the Department of Education and operate as educational units akin to mainstream schools and provide on-site education and training programs and services for youth 48 weeks per year (an additional 8 weeks to the community-based school year). Under the Detention with Purpose (DwP) initiative, education in detention is compulsory, and youth offenders will no longer be able to ‘opt out’ of schooling, volence against staff will not be tolerated, and behaviour management will be strengthened to ensure clear consequences for action. In partnership with the Department of Education, YDCs have increased session availability, improved risk management, and introduced flexible delivery models to improve attendance and readiness for reintegration.

Queensland Health operates 24/7 health centres in each YDC, staffed by registered nurses. Mental health services are also available onsite during business hours, with on-call arrangements in place for any urgent or high-risk matters. Education and health staff work closely with their community-based counterparts and the onsite multi-disciplinary teams to achieve rehabilitation goals and support a youth offender’s transition from detention to community. 

All youth admitted to a YDC are assessed by a team of multi-disciplinary professionals to promote their safety and wellbeing while in custody. These assessments inform tailored interventions, custodial management plans and integrated case planning with community youth justice stakeholders to promote service continuity upon a youth offender’s release. Assessments include:

• primary and mental health assessments completed by Queensland Health registered nurses and mental health professionals. These assessments identify any immediate health concerns and ongoing support needs.
• case management, therapeutic, safety and risk assessments including identification of any suicide or non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) risk conducted by departmental multi-disciplinary teams that include caseworkers, psychologists and speech and language pathologists.
• psychologists and speech and language pathologists use a range of evidence-based and culturally safe methods to comprehensively assess the mental and cognitive health of each youth admitted to a YDC, including in relation to neurodevelopmental or cognitive disability/disorders, such a foetal alcohol spectrum disorder. Outcomes of these assessments are included in youth’s service response plans to support consistent and responsivity-driven services that match their abilities.
• educational assessments, including numeracy, literacy and comprehension testing and identification of learning difficulties completed by Department of Education teaching staff.

In accordance with their assessed needs, youth in detention are involved in a variety of programs including evidence-based offence-focussed, therapeutic, educational, vocational, behavioural, life skills, cultural, and recreational programs. These programs are regularly reviewed to ensure that they continue to meet needs. 

Positive behaviour support models in youth detention centres are designed to incentivise well-adjusted social behaviour, are underpinned by trauma informed practice and aim to be culturally safe for all participants. Restorative practices assist youth to resolve conflict, repair harm and take accountability for their actions. 

As outlined above, DWP is a new initiative focusing on rehabilitation, discipline and accountability for youth offenders detained in YDCs. Under DWP, education is compulsory, staff safety is enhanced, and behaviour management is prioritised. In doing so, DWP supports youth offenders’ transition to the Staying on Track program by ensuring continuity of education, programs and reintegration supports between detention and the community.

Post-release support

Continuity of service delivery for youth who have been held in custody is critical. YDCs and community-based service centres work together to ensure services and programs are ongoing for youth transitioning from detention back to the community.

Transition planning is incorporated into a youth’s existing service response plan and commences upon a youth offender’s admission to youth detention. This process involves an integrated response between caseworkers, cultural supports, transition officers, education facilitators, mental health practitioners and the youth’s family/care providers. YDCs keep youth connected with their community by ensuring access to community services and supports and promoting routine engagement with youth.

Information sharing, facilitated through Memorandums of Understanding across government agencies, enable a coordinated multi-department approach to reducing a youth’s offending behaviour. Non-government agencies are also involved in supporting a youth’s transition to the community.

Staying on Track  is an intensive rehabilitation program, providing 12 months of post-release rehabilitation support to support every youth offender leaving detention to reintegrate back into the community with post-release support.   Non-government organisations will work with youth offenders in detention, helping them transition back into community, education and employment in partnership with the Department and YDC caseworkers.  Individualised 12-month support plans will be developed for every youth offender’s reintegration into the community post-detention, including at least six months of intensive support to reintegrate them into the community and prevent them from falling into a cycle of repeat crime.

Youth who continue to be subject to a supervised youth justice order after their release from custody continue to be case managed by community-based youth justice services through their individualised service response plan and are re-connected with community-based education and/or training or suitable employment. Youth continue engagement in change-orientated programs they had been undertake in detention, as well as support to access necessary offence-focused interventions that match their assessed criminogenic needs.

Western Australia

Policy directions

Key policy directions in youth justice in Western Australia include:

providing mandated services in accordance with the Young Offenders Act 1994 and Young Offenders Regulations 1995

• the Young People Strategy 2025-2030 identifies four strategic priorities and outlines how the Department of Justice, Corrective Services (the Department) will work with the mission of a fair, just, and safe community for all Western Australians
• programs help to achieve a reduction in reoffending, with a particular focus on programs designed for Aboriginal young people
• reducing the over-representation of Aboriginal young people in the justice system, with a particular focus on collaborative partnerships and innovative service delivery in regional areas.

Agencies 

Youth Justice Agencies 

Department of Justice, Corrective Services, Young People (YP) Directorate is informed by the principles and functions outlined in the Young Offenders Act 1994 (YOA) and the Department’s Strategic Framework 2022–2027.

The YOA and the Young Offender Regulations 1995 provides for the administration of youth justice in Western Australia. The YOA sets out the provisions for dealing with young persons who have, or are alleged to have, committed offences and to ensure that the legal rights of young people involved with the criminal justice system are observed.

The Young People Directorate (YPD) is responsible for the safety, security and rehabilitation of young people both in community and in custody. The core objective is to reduce reoffending among young people through:

• programs and services to divert young people away from the criminal justice system
• programs and services for young people on orders in the community
• programs and services in custody.

YPD work holistically with young people and their families to improve outcomes for young people in contact with the justice system.

YJ will always:

• prioritise the safety of the young person and the community
• consider what is in the best interests of the young person and their family
• deliver services to young people that recognise vulnerability, developmental levels, gender, and cultural and religious beliefs and practices
• be informed by evidenced-based practice
• deliver a comprehensive model of practice that is informed by:
  • the needs of each young person and is age, gender, culturally and linguistically appropriate
  • recognition and understanding that many young people in the justice system have experienced multiple traumas and that rehabilitation and care will need to address the trauma’s causes and symptoms
  • the identification of protective and risk factors
  • communicate clearly and in a timely manner with all key stakeholders
  • partner with other agencies and organisations to address complex issues contributing to youth offending in the planning and delivery of services
  • engage with Aboriginal people to seek, promote and support culturally competent and Aboriginal designed and led initiatives that reduce reoffending.

Police

Young people who come into contact with the justice system do so through contact with the police. The police have the option of issuing a caution, referring the matter to the Juvenile Justice Team (JJT), or referring the matter to court.

Courts

The Children’s Court of Western Australia deals with offences alleged to have been committed by young people aged 10 to under the age of 18.

The court may impose one of the following penalties:

• no punishment and no conditions
• no punishment but with conditions
• fines, costs, restitution and compensation
• responsible adult bond
• good behaviour bond
• referral to a juvenile justice team
• Youth Community Based Order
• Intensive Youth Supervision Order (with or without detention)
• Adult Community Based Order or Adult Intensive Supervision Order
• custodial sentence (imprisonment or detention).

Young people in the Perth metropolitan area whose offending behaviour is linked to drug use can apply to participate in the Children’s Drug Court.

Elements, programs and services 

Diversion 

Juvenile Justice Teams

Juvenile Justice Teams (JJT) provide alternative ways of dealing with minor offending behaviour by diverting young people away from the criminal justice system. Over the past 12-18 months WA has focussed on updating all policies and procedures relating to the JJT.  The central focus has been to place a greater emphasis on restorative justice/working appropriately with victims of crime, whilst also ensuring that JJT’s are completed in an efficient and effective manner.

JJT referrals are generated by police or the Children’s Court. The JJT process offers the opportunity for victims and responsible adults to be involved in the development of an action plan that encourages the young person to take responsibility for their actions and address their offending behaviour. If the young person successfully completes the action plan, they do not receive a criminal record.

Metropolitan Youth Bail Services (MYBS)

Metropolitan Youth Bail Services aims to divert young people from and minimise their time spent in custody in instances where they have been granted bail, but no responsible adult is willing or able to enter into a bail undertaking. The primary remit of the service is to ensure young people attend court appearances.

Metropolitan Youth Bail Services staff have a duty of care to ensure that young people being bailed have access to a safe and supportive living environment. MYBS Prevention and Diversion Officers provide case management support and monitor community and family placements to provide the Court with updates on compliance. They also assist young people to access supported and/or independent accommodation options in the event family placements are not available or suitable.

Bail accommodation services are also provided in the East and West Kimberley, Pilbara (South Hedland), Mid-West Gascoyne (Geraldton), and Goldfields (Kalgoorlie).

Case management

The YJ in the community deliver pre-release, transition, and post-release interventions, programs support, and services to assist young people in developing skills to manage their lives without further offending.

YJ case management is the day-to-day management of young people subject to community-based orders. It provides the framework for the planning and coordination of activities and services directed towards the young person with the objective of meeting statutory and policy requirements. Case management provides the structure in which interventions are provided to the young person. YJ develops and maintains productive and collaborative relationships with stakeholders and works to support across-agency approaches to address the complex issues and needs of young people.

YJ use the risk/needs assessments tools:

• Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory 2.0
• Youth Level Services/Case Management Inventory: 5-Item Screener Tool
•  Level of Services/Risk Needs and Responsivity.

Risk/needs assessment tools identify the young person’s criminogenic needs and are used to inform the level and types of interventions to ensure that the court report plan and case planning activities are focused in the appropriate areas of need.

Changing Habits and Reaching Targets (CHART) is the principal casework intervention used by YJ.

CHART is a structured casework intervention program and provides a way of working with young people subject to Supervised Release Orders, community-based orders with supervision, detention sentences and long-term remand. CHART provides a consistent practical tool to address the young person’s criminogenic needs.

Youth Justice Programs

YJ provides a range of services to young people subject to statutory conditions in the community and in custody across Western Australia. These programs seek to address health, rehabilitative, recreational, cultural and educational needs and are delivered by either Departmental staff or externally contracted service providers.

The current externally contracted services include:

• mentoring and case management support services in each major region across the state for young people subject to community-based supervision orders or early release orders, 
• vocational based engagement day program for young people in the metropolitan region subject to community-based supervision order or early release orders,
• Youth Bail Services (24/7 supervised accommodation in a facility) in each major region across the state (with the exception of the Great Southern Region),
• transitional accommodation services (24/7 supervised accommodation in a facility) in the metropolitan region for young people being released from custody with no suitable accommodation,
• specialist Alcohol and Other Drugs (AOD) counselling in the metropolitan region for young people in custody and/or subject to community-based supervision orders or early release orders, 
• psycho-social programs and support services to young people in custody.

YJ also fund the Aboriginal Legal Service of Western Australia (ALSWA) to deliver a metropolitan-based Youth Engagement Program (YEP) to engage Aboriginal young people appearing in the Perth Children’s Court to support them through bail and court processes. YEP provides case management, court support and mentoring to young people, as well as referrals to a range of culturally appropriate external services and supports with a focus on diverting young people at the earliest opportunity. 

Supported accommodation and bail programs

The Youth Bail Services (YBS) provides temporary and short-term accommodation placements for young people remanded on bail where no responsible adult or appropriate placement can be located. Bail services require 24-hour, 7 days a week supervision and include the provision of day programs and transport to appointments for young people and opportunities to increase their pro-social behaviours prior to their next court appearance. YBS diverts regional and remote Aboriginal young people from custody and enables them to remain on country and in contact with their family and community.

The Youth Transitional Accommodation Program (YTAP) is an accommodation service for young people between 13 years and 17 years and nine months providing 24-hour, 7 days a week supervision and includes the provision of day program and transport to appointments for young people. This service is designed to provide young people opportunities to gain independent or long term supported accommodation upon release from custody on an early release order or community-based supervision order.

Pre- and post-release support

All educational and vocational programs that a young person engages in while in custody are aimed to be compatible with the young person’s abilities and areas of interest. A young person can be referred to a variety of personal development and treatment programs such as:

• drug and alcohol intervention
• emotional management programs
• personal development programs: cultural, employability and life skills courses, and recreational activities
• individual psychological counselling
• sex offender treatment (individual counselling with centre psychologist).

 Youth Justice Officers provide support to young people exiting detention on Supervised Release Orders. As part of their release plan young people are referred to a range of services including the YJ programs service providers to assist with their rehabilitation in the community.

Psychological services

Youth Justice Psychological Services is a team responsible for providing psychological services to young people managed by YJ in both community and custody.

Youth Justice Psychological Services are responsible for offence-specific counselling, risk assessments, and pre-sentence psychological reports to the courts. The business unit co-ordinates specialist assessments and interventions to young people and provides support in accordance with their identified needs and release plans.

Services are offered to custodial and community-based centres in the following areas:

• forensic and clinical psychology
• child development
• behavioural management
• counselling to address criminogenic needs
• risk issues and managing vulnerable young people.

Regional services for young people

Youth Justice is located in six regional areas across the state and provide:

• the management of young people on bail, juvenile justice teams, community-based orders or supervised release orders
• emergency short-stay accommodation for young people who have been remanded on bail where no responsible adult or appropriate placement can be located.

South Australia

Policy directions

Key policy directions for youth justice in South Australia include:

• Enhancing and further embedding individualised, therapeutic, culturally safe and disability and trauma-informed approaches into the case management and service delivery of Department of Human Services (DHS) Youth Justice, underpinned by an evidence-based practice framework.
• Strengthening programs, services and partnerships to provide early intervention and structural supports to Aboriginal children and young people and their families, to improve outcomes and address the overrepresentation of Aboriginal children and young people in detention in line with commitments under the National Partnership Agreement on Closing the Gap.
• Addressing repeat young offenders through the South Australian Government’s Young Offender Plan, with measures including the toughening of bail laws for repeat young offenders with a review to be conducted by the South Australian Law Reform Institute, strengthening penalties for young offenders with extensive criminal histories, and cracking down on youth street gangs through giving South Australia Police greater powers.
• Committing $3m to an intervention program to support young repeat offenders to break the cycle of re-offending under the Young Offender Plan. DHS is leading the development of the Young Offender Program under the plan, to be delivered in 2025-26.

Agencies

Youth Justice agency

In South Australia, DHS Youth Justice has oversight of supervised orders determined by courts under the Bail Act 1995 and Young Offenders Act 1993. DHS Youth Justice is responsible for providing statutory youth justice services, both custodial and community-based, in accordance with the Youth Justice Administration Act 2016.

Within the legislative framework, DHS Youth Justice strives for contemporary practice standards in youth justice administration, to improve rehabilitation outcomes for young people and reduce re-offending, while contributing to community safety and upholding victims’ rights.

DHS also works with key partner agencies and community partners to connect children, young people and their families with supports, programs and services to achieve positive outcomes.

Police

In South Australia, the police are the first point of contact for young people entering the youth justice system. The police may issue cautions (either informal or formal) to a child or young person who has admitted to an offence. They may also divert young people who admit an offence to a Family Conference, which is provided by the Courts Administration Authority.

Courts

In South Australia, children and young people who are alleged to have committed an offence and who are not diverted to a Family Conference are primarily dealt with by the Youth Court under the provisions of the Young Offenders Act 1993. The Youth Court is established under the Youth Court Act 1993 and presided over by a District Court judge who is designated by proclamation as the Judge of the Youth Court. The Court sits in metropolitan and suburban Adelaide as well as regional locations.

A young person may also have their matters referred to a higher court subject to the seriousness of the offence (for trial as an adult) or if there is a pattern of serious repeat offending.

Elements, programs and services

Diversion

In South Australia, two tiers of pre-court diversion apply where it is the first offence or relatively low-level offending, and the young person admits to the alleged offending.

Informal and formal cautions by police constitute the first tier of diversion. Young people who commit offences that are considered too serious for an informal or formal caution may be directed to attend a Family Conference. To be eligible for a Family Conference, the young person must admit to carrying out the offence. If the charge is denied, the matter is referred to the Youth Court.

The Youth Court has discretion to refer matters back to be dealt with by formal police caution or family conference where appropriate.

Bail

The Bail Act 1985 provides for a presumption of bail. A child or young person who has been arrested can apply for and be granted bail on the condition that they will appear in court at a specified date, place and time. Bail can be granted by the South Australia Police on arrest or, if police bail is refused, an application can be made to the Youth Court. Children and young people who are denied police bail are entitled to a telephone review by a Magistrate where the Youth Court is not readily available (for example on weekends or in remote areas).

DHS Youth Justice is responsible for supporting children and young people on supervised bail to comply with their bail conditions.

Community Service Orders

DHS Youth Justice has a role in overseeing the performance of community service stemming from a Family Conference outcome, an agreement with the Fines Enforcement and Recovery Unit or imposed as part of sentencing.

In the metropolitan Adelaide and inner regional areas, SYC delivers the Community Service Order Program, in partnership with DHS. The Program supports young people to meet their community service requirements while developing important skills for studying, working and living independently. DHS Youth Justice delivers the Community Service Order Program outside the metropolitan and inner regional areas.

Case management

Case management is provided to all children and young people under DHS Youth Justice supervision, including for those on both sentenced and unsentenced mandates. DHS Youth Justice takes a flexible and individualised approach to case management, focusing on engagement, dynamic worker–young person relationships, goal setting and goal achievement. Case management promotes desistence from offending and places emphasis on a rehabilitative approach.

South Australia uses a continuum of care approach in the application of case management for those exiting custody into the community, with a particular focus on re-integration and reconnecting to the community. Case conferencing with relevant stakeholders, including young people and their families, is an integral component of our case management approach and supports effective collaboration between DHS Youth Justice and partner agencies.

DHS Youth Justice utilises an evidence-based practice model as part of case management, which prioritises a set of practice skills and approaches in all interactions with children, young people and their families. This includes a focus on the client-young person relationship, role clarification and balancing competing priorities of supervision and support, pro-social modelling and other techniques such as cognitive behavioural strategies and working with families.

Offence-focused and related programs

DHS Youth Justice, together with its sector partners, delivers or facilitates delivery of a range of offence-focused and other related programs to support rehabilitation and drive positive outcomes for children and young people. These include therapeutic interventions, life skill development and social integration that builds engagement back to community. 

For example, CHART (Changing Habits and Reaching Targets), is a structured, individualised intervention program used as part of case management. It adopts a skills‑oriented, cognitive behavioural focus to challenge offending behaviour for young people who require a moderate to high level of intervention to reduce their risk of reoffending. The focus for delivery is to use participatory learning methods and to be responsive to client needs, motivations and learning styles.

A range of programs are offered to children and young people at Kurlana Tapa Youth Justice Centre covering different life domains and areas of need, including to:

• support engagement by children and young people in culture and community
• practically engage young people about alcohol and other drug misuse
• build self esteem
• support young people to build independent living skills and other post-release life skills
• support sexual health and wellbeing
• build understanding of sexual orientation, gender identity and expression
• support the development of emotion management tools such as self-regulation, mediation and resilience
• develop young people’s peer relationship skills including teamwork
• support engagement in physical and recreational activity.

DHS Youth Justice works collaboratively with partner agencies to provide culturally appropriate programs to Aboriginal children and young people in Kurlana Tapa, including:

• Yarning Circles, which create a safe space for Aboriginal young people to speak about culture, and men’s and women’s business with significant Aboriginal role models.
• Cultural Catch-Ups, facilitated by Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, which is an informal program designed to meet the cultural needs of the young people attending. Session content includes activities such as the design and creation of boomerangs, learning to play the didgeridoo, exploring the environment, food, traditions and storylines of participants.
• Small group catch-ups with Kurlana Tapa’s Cultural Support Workers. Cultural Support Workers are Aboriginal staff who have youth work qualifications.
• Cultural events during Reconciliation Week and National Aboriginal and Islanders Day Observance Committee Week.

All programs at Kurlana Tapa are reviewed to ensure they are informed by evidence or assessed as suitable for the population. 

Education

The Department for Education operates the Youth Education Centre (YEC) on-site at Kurlana Tapa. YEC is a fully accredited secondary school and SACE institution, engaging children and young people in individualised education and training opportunities. Each student at the YEC has an education and training plan, tailored to meet their assessed education and training goals. 

Youth Justice Therapeutic Services (YJTS)

YJTS brings together specialist multi-disciplinary clinicians and teams that provide individualised and responsive therapeutic support to children and young people across both custodial and community settings.

YJTS comprises of Youth Justice Clinical Services (YJCS) and the KIND (Kinship, Improving Relationships, No violence, Developing skills) Program.

YJCS is a multi-disciplinary team of psychologists, speech pathologists and occupational therapists who provide consultation, assessment and individual intervention services, including:

• Criminogenic psychological assessments to assist case planning and case management - assessments cover background history, patterns of offending, and include analysis of risk and recommendations for interventions to reduce the likelihood of further offending by a young person
• Development of individualised behaviour support plans to enable operational staff to better understand and respond to behaviours of concern
• Working with young people to develop communication and social skills, functional life skills and to address interpersonal violence
• Providing reports for the Youth Court
• Provision of training to other areas of Youth Justice in trauma-informed and disability-aware therapeutic models and approaches.

The KIND Program, a nine-module tailored intervention for young people who engage in adolescent family violence or dating violence. Delivered by specialist family violence therapists and involving the young person’s families/partner where appropriate, the program focuses on improving relationships, safety and interpersonal skills.

Programs for Aboriginal children and young people

DHS acknowledges the important role culture plays in the positive growth and development of Aboriginal children and young people within their family and wider cultural community. Aboriginal children and young people and their families are provided with access to a range of cultural support services, including specialist Aboriginal programs delivered at Kurlana Tapa that focus on problem solving and the positive aspects of their cultural identity.

Aboriginal children and young people at Kurlana Tapa are supported by the Cultural Support Team, comprising of a Senior Aboriginal Cultural Advisor and Aboriginal Cultural Support Workers, who work with children, young people and their families and communities to meet their individual cultural needs. A Senior Aboriginal Cultural Advisor also supports Community Youth Justice Case Managers in providing culturally informed services and support, as well as direct engagement with Aboriginal children and young people in the community.

The Circles of Trust engagement tool assists Case Managers to gather information about Aboriginal clients, their family, cultural group and community supports. The information gathered through this tool promotes an understanding of the young person’s kinship and family structure. It can assist to identify strengths and issues within this structure, the young person’s connection to culture and community, and the impact of any grief and loss.

Child Diversion Program (CDP)

The CDP aims to divert Aboriginal children aged between 10 and 14 years who have been charged with a minor offence away from a custodial environment with appropriate supports, by providing short term culturally safe bail accommodation for children who do not have an identified suitable bail address, and on-going wraparound case management.

The CDP model uses an evidence-informed approach, focusing on Aboriginal methodologies and culturally centred approaches to engagement. These include Aboriginal Family-Led Decision Making, Relationship Based Practice, Kinship and Family Mapping.

The South Australian Government has committed $3m over four years (2025-26 to 2028-29) to continue the CDP.

Metropolitan Aboriginal Youth and Family Services (MAYFS)

MAYFS is a dedicated Aboriginal service within DHS with a focus on diverting young people away from the justice system and towards improved life outcomes. MAYFS restorative and family inclusive service has a strong focus on strengthening Aboriginal young people’s connection to family, community and culture. As part of this, MAYFS works closely with other agencies, including South Australia Police, Courts, schools and non-government and community service organisations to facilitate access to a range of services and programs. Services are delivered through mentoring and a culturally informed practice model. 

Aboriginal Youth Pathways to Employment

The Aboriginal Youth Pathways to Employment pilot program operates in partnership with the RAW Group, a 100% Aboriginal owned and managed company. The pilot program is running over a 24-month period and provides culturally safe training and employment opportunities for young Aboriginal people in contact with the youth justice system. 

Tasmania

Policy directions

The key policy directions in youth justice in Tasmania include:

• On 9 September 2021 the Premier announced the closure of the Ashley Youth Detention Centre (AYDC) to be replaced by a smaller purpose-built facility in the south as part of the broader youth justice reform.
• In December 2021 the Reforming Tasmania’s Youth Justice System: Discussion Paper was released, providing the foundation for the consultation process to inform the development of the ten-year Blueprint outlining the strategic direction for Youth Justice in Tasmania.
• In December 2023 the final version of the Youth Justice Blueprint 2024-34 (Blueprint) was released. The Blueprint outlines the strategic direction for Tasmania’s youth justice system for the next 10 years with the aim of improving and supporting the safety and wellbeing of children, young people and their families whilst addressing the underlying drivers of offending behaviours, reducing offending and improving community safety. 
• The Blueprint was developed based on analysis of current data about youth offending, research on contemporary and evidence-based practice nationally and internationally, discussions with children and young people in the youth justice system and extensive consultation and collaboration with the Tasmanian community and government agencies.
• To deliver a contemporary, evidence informed and connected youth justice system for Tasmania, five key strategies have been identified for focus over the next ten years. The five strategies are:
  • Prioritise prevention and early intervention to reduce engagement with the youth justice system.
  • Ensure diversion from the justice system is early and lasting.
  • Establish a therapeutically based criminal justice response for children and young people.
  • Integrate and connect whole-of-government and community service systems.
  • Provide an appropriately trained and supported therapeutic workforce.
• The Blueprint recognises that Aboriginal communities are best placed to ensure there are appropriate responses to address the overrepresentation of Aboriginal young people in the youth justice system in Tasmania. This will be achieved by partnering with these communities to provide culturally appropriate supports and services for their children and young people at risk of offending or reoffending.
• Implementing the Blueprint over a ten-year timeframe will be a dynamic process that continues to evolve as we make progress and evaluate our responses. It will therefore be supported by a series of Action Plans implemented through a whole of government, whole of community approach. Focus areas and priority actions may change over time to reflect the views of children and young people, new priorities, and reflections on existing work.
• In 2025 the New Tasmanian Youth Justice Facility Masterplan and Youth Justice Diversionary Services Framework (Framework) were released. The Masterplan outlines the design, operating philosophy, and facilities that will be built at the new Tasmanian Youth Justice Facility. Designed to be used in conjunction with the new Youth Justice Model of Care, the Framework outlines expectations for service providers delivering diversionary services for children and young people.  
• The Commission of Inquiry into the Tasmanian Government's responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Institutional Settings recommendations report was publicly released in September 2023. The Tasmanian Government has accepted all the recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry and are guiding and informing youth justice reform. Current actions also includes ensuring the safety and wellbeing of the children and young people at Ashley Youth Detention Centre until its intended closure.
• As part of this reform, the Government has also announced the intention to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14 years and work towards increasing the minimum age of detention (including remand) to 16 years.

Agencies

Services for Youth Justice  

The Department for Education, Children and Young People (DECYP) is responsible for providing the following youth justice services:

• Coordinating diversionary community conferencing.
• Providing statutory community-based supervision of young people on court orders.
• Providing support for court processes.
• Providing safe and secure custodial services and pre- and post-release support.
• Providing integrated case management of young people on legal orders.
• Managing the community service order program.

Police

Tasmania Police (within the Department of Police, Fire and Emergency Management) are the first point of contact for young people entering the criminal justice system, and are responsible for:

• Dealing with reported youth crime and deciding whether to divert or to prosecute matters in the courts.
• Providing diversionary pre-court and informal and formal cautioning services.
• Referring a young person to Community Youth Justice for a non-court-based community conference. 

Courts

In Tasmania, young people alleged to have committed an offence who are not diverted are dealt with by the Magistrates Court (Youth Justice Division) through a magistrate, under the provisions of the Youth Justice Act 1997. The Supreme Court may hear offences prescribed under the Act.

The Magistrates Court uses specialist lists to improve timeliness to finalisation, consistency in court decisions, coordination of youth justice services to the court and collaboration between relevant agencies. These lists have a nominated magistrate which provides continuity.

Elements, programs and services

Early Intervention

The Strong Families Safe Kids Advice and Referral Line provides the single front door for young people experiencing vulnerabilities and can assist with targeted and coordinated support. 

Diversion

The Youth Justice Act 1997 provides a comprehensive framework for restorative justice, including the restoration or reparation of harm done in the community. Under the Act, diversion from the criminal justice system is the principal outcome sought for all young people. Detention is considered a sentencing option of last resort.

There are 2 primary levels of non-court-based diversion in Tasmania:

• Police have the power to informally or formally caution young people who have admitted to committing an offence. 
• If the matter is considered more serious, police may request Community Youth Justice to conduct a community conference, which is convened by an independent facilitator. 

A formal caution or a community conference can bring young people face to face with their victims to decide how best to rectify the harm caused by their offending.

Case management

Case management in Community Youth Justice identifies:

• The requirements of the court order and strategies to fulfil these.
• The services and strategies required to address needs as determined by the Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory risk assessment tools and general assessment process, including other professional assessments as required. 
• The relevant people and services to help identify strategies and goals.
• The level of agreement among those involved, including the young person and Community and/or Custodial Youth Justice, on the goals and strategies to achieve these goals, and the associated level of commitment. 
• The process of assessing and monitoring progress, and the point at which involvement with the young person will diminish. 

The case management approach in place at the Ashley Youth Detention Centre (AYDC) takes account of the needs of the individual young person and any court-ordered obligations, as well as community expectations. A comprehensive assessment process undertaken upon admission informs this approach and continues throughout the period of detention.

Offence-specific and therapeutic programs

Targeted Youth Support Service

The Targeted Youth Support Service is a state-wide community-based program funded by the Department for Education, Children and Young People (DECYP) to provide intensive case management and therapeutic interventions for young people aged 10–17. The target group are young people with substantial or multiple-risk issues who, without intensive support, would be at risk of notification to the Child Safety Service or entry into, or escalation within, the youth justice system.

Changing Habits and Reaching Targets (CHART)

CHART is an offending behaviour program that addresses the offending needs of high-risk young people on supervised orders. The program uses active, participatory learning methods and employs a skills-oriented, cognitive-behavioural approach to casework with young offenders.

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) Assessments for Youth at Risk

Patches provides a multi-disciplinary assessment for FASD in a non-judgemental manner, with a focus on building on people’s strengths and working toward their goals. For those requiring therapy and support, Patches provides ongoing allied health and psychology services for common issues experienced by individuals with FASD, such as anxiety, attention and sleep difficulties, social communication difficulties and behavioural dysregulation. Patches provides FASD assessment services for youth at risk of involvement in the youth justice system so that they can receive the supports they need to achieve better life outcomes.

NDIS Justice Liaison Officers (JLOs)

JLOs support people with disabilities while they are in custody and when transitioning back into the community. JLOs can: 

• Work with mainstream justice services to help a person to access the NDIS.
• Proactively respond to enquiries and resolve any barriers between the NDIS and mainstream services. 
• Provide support and help a young person during the NDIS access process and help others understand the process. 
• Provide education and promote a best practice approach.

Further, JLOs can also provide support across the NDIS pathway, including access, developing a NDIS plan, using your funded supports and making any changes. 

Youth Justice Education Liaison Officers

Through Community Youth Justice, Education Liaison Officers provide support from an education perspective for young people engaging with Tasmania Police and/or with the Youth Justice system. They support young people through leading, establishing, and maintaining effective communication between students, families, courts, magistrates, schools, Learning Services and other agencies (e.g., NDIS, Centrelink) as required to effectively reengage young people in a suitably appropriate education provision. Through case management, Education Liaison Officers provide advice, support, recommendations, and options and assist in the development and implementation of programs that support the engagement and re- engagement of at-risk students in education. 

Step Up

Step Up is a statewide program provided by Home Base, formerly known as Colony 47. Home Base works with adolescents aged 11 to 17 who are using violent behaviour in the home, towards family members or intimate partners. The program is a one-on-one case management, outreach model that works with both the young person and their family or intimate partner. Young people learn and practice nonviolent, respectful ways of communicating and resolving conflict with those they have been abusive towards, while parents learn a model of respectful parenting that balances leadership and positive support, promoting non-violence in the family.

Police and Community Youth Club (PCYC)

PCYC is a not-for-profit, community organisation that provides a range of sporting and recreational activities for young people after school and during the school holidays. PCYC staff aim to create positive connections with young people and the community with the aim to reduce crime and antisocial behaviour. PCYC is statewide and runs several mobile activity centre trailers travelling to all parts of Tasmanian providing recreational activities to regional and remote areas. 

Juvenile Fire Lighting Intervention Program

The Firelighting Risk Awareness Program (FireRAP) is a free, confidential, state-wide behaviour change program designed for children aged 4–14 who engage in unsafe fire-setting. It is a family‑based program delivered in the home by trained FireRAP fire-fighters. FireRAP is designed as an early intervention program to prevent youth in participating in further firelighting.  

Health services at AYDC

AYDC offers an onsite health centre in conjunction with Correctional Primary Health Services and Forensic Mental Health Services. It functions 7 days a week, 12 hours a day with an on‑call service extending this to 24-hour coverage. Health services provided include general practitioner, general and mental health nursing, mental health assessment and treatment, pharmacy, pharmacotherapy treatment, alcohol or other drug use and dental. The centre also facilitates access to community-based health and assessment services. 

Rehabilitative programs at AYDC

AYDC has a comprehensive Practice Framework based on evidence and best practice therapeutic strategies. All young people at AYDC participate in a range of rehabilitative programs aligned with this framework. The programs offered and techniques applied take place within a case management context, are evidence-based and focus on offender rehabilitation. The program framework is designed to provide cognitive-based therapeutic programs for persistent and serious offenders and address specific criminogenic and social needs. Basic interventions that address issues that may affect community integration, such as employment, education, accommodation and leisure, are also included.

Transition from Ashley Youth Detention Centre

The REBOOT program, delivered by 54 reasons (Save the Children), works with young people aged 12–18 who are in detention and/or remand in AYDC, assisting them to reintegrate into the community. Youth workers support young people both in AYDC and when they transition back into the community to support young people by increasing support networks and providing one-on-one sustainable skill building. 54 reasons will also work with the young person to identify and meet their recreational, educational and vocational and/or employment goals and aspirations.

Supporting Young People on Bail

Through the REBOOT program, 54 reasons work in partnership with Community Youth Justice, the Magistrates Court, Early Intervention Units, Tasmania Police and other community agencies to support children and young people aged 12–18 who have been placed on bail. Youth workers work with young people to identify their recreational, educational and vocational/employment goals and aspirations. These goals form the young person’s Bail Support Plan. Support is provided to the young person during their bail period to help them meet their goals.

Education

DECYP operates a school on site at the AYDC for young people of compulsory and non-compulsory school age. The educational focus for detainees reflects the curriculum used in schools and training facilities in the community.

Programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people

Youth Justice has a number of partnerships with Indigenous organisations, including:

• Tasmanian Aboriginal Corporation (TAC), which has supervised a number of young people on community service orders and involved them in health and wellbeing programs, as well as tasks such as land care. 
• The Circular Head Aboriginal Corporation delivers the Youth Prevention and Diversion Program which provides case management, mentoring and referrals to other service providers for Indigenous Youth (aged 12 to 24) at risk of offending or entering the criminal justice system. The program also offers reintegration services for young people returning to the community from AYDC and support services to bridge the gap to education and employment services.
• Representation from an Aboriginal organisation is often involved in the Care Team process and Community Conferencing for a young person who identifies as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander.

Other programs and services

Tasmania’s Commissioner for Children and Young People (CCYP) acts as an advocate for all young people detained at AYDC. As advocate for young people at AYDC, the commissioner is concerned with the overall physical and emotional wellbeing of each young person. In fulfilling this role, the commissioner listens to and gives voice to concerns and grievances, educates young people on their rights, and facilitates resolution of issues and access to support services as appropriate. From March 2022, the CCYP has had a dedicated full time Advocate for Young People in Detention working two days onsite at AYDC. 

AYDC is also subject to the oversight of the Custodial Inspector. The purpose of the Custodial Inspector is to provide independent, proactive, preventative and systemic oversight of custodial centres. In particular, the Custodial Inspector provides external scrutiny through an independent statutory office and the publication of reports and recommendations. The focus of the Inspector is on systemic issues relating to the management, control and security of the state’s prisons and youth detention centre and the care and welfare of prisoners and detainees.

Australian Capital Territory

Policy directions

The ACT’s youth justice system operates within a trauma-informed and therapeutic practice approach, based on an understanding of the neurological, biological, psychological and social effects of trauma on a young person. This approach seeks to prevent escalation of anti-social or offending behaviour and is respectful of young people’s histories, experience, needs, culture and aspirations.

A number of ACT Government strategies support the policy direction of the youth justice system, including:

• Raising the minimum age of criminal responsibility.  The law reform raises the minimum age of criminal responsibility (MACR) to 14 years as of 1 July 2025. For serious and violent offences have a lower age of 12, while retaining the doctrine of doli incapax for this cohort. This reform creates an imperative to improve the therapeutic service system for those involved in, or at risk of, harmful behaviour and their families, as an alternative to involvement in the youth justice system.
• The ACT has supported this reform by establishing the Therapeutic Support Panel for Children and Young People (panel), a multi-disciplinary team of experts chaired by an independent statutory office holder to facilitate individualised services that address the therapeutic needs of children and young people who engage in harmful behaviour. A key role of the chair and panel is to identify areas for systemic reform and development of the broader service system so it is better able to support children and young people and their families. The chair of the panel reports systemic issues directly to the Minister for Children, Youth and Families.
• The Territory is continuing to monitor the impact of raising the MACR on the service system to identify supports needed to further enhance the therapeutic service system for children, young people and families.
  • Next Steps for our Kids 2022-2030: ACT Strategy to Strengthen Families and Keep Children and Young People Safe (Next Steps) was launched in June 2022. Next Steps sets out an ambitious 8-year reform strategy that builds on the positive outcomes of A Step Up for Our Kids: One step can make a lifetime of difference (Out of Home Care strategy 2015-2020) and addresses the ongoing challenges of the child and youth protection system. Next Steps includes an integration of earlier family support, prevention services, child protection, out of home care and youth justice and seeks to strengthen families who interact with these systems.
  • The ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Agreement 2019–2028, including an Action Plan to achieve the outcome of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, families and communities thriving in a safe environment and having equitable access to justice and culturally safe restorative justice, prevention and diversion programs.
  • The Disability Justice Strategy 2019-2029, which aims to achieve equity and inclusion for people with disability in the justice system.  
  • The findings of the second Healthy Centre Review of Bimberi Youth Justice Centre 2024 build on the first review, and government response, from 2020. The review finds strong foundations of therapeutic practice, but advises that an emphasis on security and safety can undermine this therapeutic approach. It found that safety and wellbeing have improved since 2019.

 Building on these strategies, the ACT has commenced planning for a new youth justice strategic plan, which will focus on embedding therapeutic culture across the system.

Agencies

Youth Justice and Adolecent Services (YJAS) Branch

The Health and Community Services Directorate (the Community Services Directorate during the reporting period) is responsible for delivering youth justice services in the ACT through the Youth Justice and Adolescent Services (YJAS) Branch. This branch oversees a range of key services, including the Bimberi Youth Justice Centre, Youth Justice case management, Youth Justice Residential Services, the Intensive Adolescent Services and Therapeutic Support teams and an After-Hours Crisis Service.

YJAS oversee’s the assessment, supervision, and support of young people who are subject to bail or justice orders, whether they are in the community or in custody. The branch prepares pre-sentence reports for the courts and leads the coordination of supports and interventions for young people.

In response to significant legislative reforms, such as the raising of MACR and changes to the Act, a major transformation of youth justice and child protection services commenced in 2023. As part of this reform, the YJAS Branch was formally established as a distinct entity within the Directorate, commencing operations in July 2024.

This structural change aims to enhance service delivery by providing more targeted and specialised support ot young people involved in the justice system.

Police

ACT Policing is the first point of contact for young people entering the criminal justice system in the ACT. Police officers have discretionary powers to divert young people who have committed minor offences using a warning and diversionary system. If a decision is made to prosecute, ACT Policing may issue a summons for a criminally responsible young person to attend court or detain them until the next sitting of the Childrens Court.

ACT Policing, along with the ACT Childrens Court, is a primary referral source linking young people to a restorative justice response. The Restorative Justice Unit within the Justice and Community Safety Directorate is responsible for managing all restorative justice conferences.

Courts

The ACT Childrens Court deals with young people who are alleged to have committed an offence while aged 12 to 17 years (14 to 17 years from 1 July 2025), and who are not diverted from the criminal justice system. Exceptional charges and Commonwealth offences apply for young people aged 10 – 12 years.

Young people convicted of indictable offences in the Childrens Court may be committed to the Supreme Court for sentencing. Young people who are convicted by the Supreme Court may be remitted to the Childrens Court for sentencing.

The Warrumbul Children’s Circle Sentencing Court is an alternative model of sentencing for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people attending the ACT Children’s Court. It is a type of restorative practice that aims to provide culturally relevant and effective sentencing options for young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

ACT legislation enables a young person’s criminal matters to be dismissed if a Court considers the young person is in need of care and protection. The Court may take this action on its own accord or following receipt of a report prepared by the Health and Community Services Directorate.

Elements, programs and services

Diversion

Diversionary programs provide a targeted response for young offenders, many of whom are first-time offenders and may be at risk of becoming persistent offenders. These programs divert young people from entering or continuing in the youth justice system in the ACT:

• The After-Hours Crisis Service aims to keep young people out of custody by providing community-based options as an alternative to being remanded in Bimberi and assists young people on justice orders to comply with the conditions of their orders.
• The Restorative Justice Unit (RJU) provides a safe process for people harmed by crime and those responsible to discuss what happened, who has been impacted and how, as well as what can be done to try to address the harm caused. The RJU is committed to providing a culturally safe and trauma-informed space to support and guide that communication. An Indigenous Guidance Partner and Indigenous Convenor are available to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients through the restorative justice process.
• Youth Alcohol and Drug Diversion Program (YDAP) aims to divert young people away from the youth justice system, referring them to assessment and education programs:
  • The Youth Alcohol Diversion Program provides intervention and education to young people who engage in underage drinking.
  • The Illicit Drug Diversion Program provides intervention and education to people who engage in drug taking.
  • These programs, delivered through a partnership between ACT Policing and Canberra Health Services, also collect data on young people and their use of alcohol and other drugs, with a view to reducing harm, binge drinking and associated social and health problems in the community.
• Functional Family Therapy – Youth Justice. In early 2021, a pilot program was launched to strengthen family supports and community connections with the goal of reducing young people’s involvement in criminal activity and lowering their risk of engagement with the youth justice system. The pilot concluded in July 2022, and an independent evaluation was conducted to assess its impact, outcomes, and implementation processes. Following the positive findings of the evaluation, the ACT Government committed $3.076 million over four years from 2023-24 to implement the Functional Family Therapy – Youth Justice (FFT-YJ) program as an ongoing service. The FFT-YJ provides structured, evidence-based therapeutic support to young people and their families, with a focus on improving family functioning, reducing offending behaviour, and strengthening community connections.

Offence-specific and therapeutic programs

A range of programs and interventions are delivered within the community and custodial environments to address the needs of young people. These include programs that focus on alcohol and other drug issues, relationship issues and educational needs. The Changing Habits and Reaching Targets (CHART) program, a cognitively based intervention designed to help young people to change their thinking and decision-making processes, is delivered in the community and Bimberi.

Young people at Bimberi are provided with tailored case plans that recognise the importance of recovery from trauma, consider a disability assessment and strengthen life skills. A full-time Principal Practitioner is employed at Bimberi to strengthen trauma-informed therapeutic treatment and case management support for young people with complex and challenging presentations. A range of partnerships also operate to assist young people through a focus on education; employment skills programs; post-release support; disability support; and health and mental health support.

Programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people

Yarrabi Bamirr (meaning ‘walk tall’ in the Ngunnawal language) was officially launched as a trial in mid-2017 at Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health and Community Services under the name ‘Justice Reinvestment Program’. This approach targets families with children and uses a family-centric model of service support with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families, to improve life outcomes and reduce or prevent contact with the criminal justice system. In 2020, the program ceased being a trial, was expanded, and continues to be delivered by program is delivered by Winnunga Nimmityjah and other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community organisations in the ACT.

Yarrabi Bamirr is designed to address complex needs using a comprehensive approach that is co-designed with the client and their family. A range of agencies work collaboratively to support the issues clients are experiencing. This involves intensive support that gradually builds the clients’ own capacity to navigate issues and self-manage their affairs.

Bimberi employs a designated Family Engagement Officer, who supports engagement between young people and families, and works with case managers and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community service providers to ensure young people transitioning from custody are supported within their community.

The Murrumbidgee School at Bimberi also has two Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Transition Officers, who facilitates the transition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people into appropriate training, education or employment options.

Canberra Health Services’ Aboriginal Liaison Officers attend Bimberi each week to provide wellbeing support and Aboriginal Health Assessments to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people in detention.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community service providers run various programs at Bimberi, including counselling, family support and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art.

Supported accommodation and bail programs

The After-Hours Crisis Service aims to keep young people out of custody by providing community-based options as an alternative to being remanded in Bimberi and assisting young people on justice orders to comply with the conditions of their orders. Staff work with young people, court officials and other service providers to ensure that, where appropriate, young people are able to remain in the community while being supervised for compliance with bail conditions.

Support for young people in the community is also provided by Youth Justice Community Residential Services that provides crisis, short to medium-term accommodation options for young people who are on community-based justice orders. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people are prioritised for this service. 

Safer Youth Response Service Pilot

Starting in December 2023, the ACT Government has funded the Safer Youth Response Service (SYRS) pilot program, a new front-line initiative designed to support the recently enacted MACR legislation and government priorities of improved therapeutic supports and services to children, young people and families. The pilot works with children and young people through a direct referral pathway from ACT Policing to on-call youth workers and overnight crisis accommodation for young people unable to return home if required. As of 2025, the program is being delivered by Marymead CatholicCare, ACT Policing, and the ACT Government. It provides specialist, culturally safe support to children aged 10–14 who are at risk of entering the youth justice system. Services include emergency accommodation, case management, and therapeutic support, with referrals managed by ACT Policing.

Oversight mechanisms

The ACT youth justice system operates within a human rights framework, governed by the Human Rights Act 2004 (ACT), and is committed to delivering transparent and accountable services. Existing oversight mechanisms and agencies include:

• an Official Visitor for Children and Young People and an Official Visitor who identifies as an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander person supports young people in detention or in out of home care to raise concerns and complaints.
• the ACT Human Rights Commission and Public Advocate provides external oversight of Bimberi and the broader youth justice system.
• the Inspector of Custodial Services, established under the Custodial Inspector Act 2017 to oversee and examine the operations of the adult and youth detention systems in the ACT.
• the Commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people established under the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People Commissioner Act 2022, to advocate for the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people, to identify and examine issues that affect the human righs and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people; and make recommendations to government and non-government agencies on legislation, policies, practices and services that affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people.
• the ACT’s National Preventative Mechanism (NPM), consisting of the ACT Ombudsman, the ACT Human Rights Commission and the Office of the Inspector of Custodial Services has been appointed as part of the ACT’s human rights obligations under the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT).

YJAS works with these agencies to promote continuous practice improvement. A Charter of Rights for Young People in Bimberi Youth Justice Centre also operates to strengthen the protection of young people in Bimberi.

Northern Territory

Policy directions

The Northern Territory’s (NT) youth justice system has undergone significant reform to promote community safety by preventing and addressing offending behaviour. The NT Government (NTG) invests heavily in youth justice programs and services to intervene early and divert young people away from crime.

The Department of Corrections (DoC) is responsible with leading youth justice policy and strategic direction in the NT. Following the 2024 Machinery of Government (MoG) changes, formal youth justice policy governance framework within DoC is under development and will be focussed on the Government’s three pillars of reducing crime, rebuilding the economy and restoring the Territory lifestyle. The Government has already made several key changes to increase community safety and support victims of crime, including lowering the age of criminal responsibility to 10 years old, removing detention as a last resort from the NT Youth Justice Act 2005 (the Act) and increasing the level of consideration given by judges to the impact on victims when sentencing youth.

DoC is now in the process of redesigning a comprehensive youth justice policy. This will involve the Government’s key priorities and ensuring alignment with both the department’s overall objectives and the new government’s commitments. 

Department of Corrections Strategic Plan 2024-2028

The DoC Strategic Plan provides a clear vision and direction, bringing together adult and youth correctional services into a unified roadmap aligned with the NTG’s commitments to reduce crime, rebuild the economy, and restore the Territory lifestyle.

The Strategic Plan is a practical framework to guide decision-making, improve efficiency, and ensure resources are aligned to key initiatives, aimed at aligning long-term priorities, improve performance, manage risk, and respond proactively to change.

Agencies

Youth Justice

Youth Justice (YJ) is a division of the DoC. It manages a dynamic framework comprising of laws, policies and practices.

The framework is designed to address young people who have committed or are suspected of committing an offence and aims to balance holding young offenders accountable with providing support and rehabilitation to reduce reoffending.

Police 

The NT Police Youth Diversion Unit (YDU) facilitates youth diversion assessments and delivers youth justice conferencing and diversion programs in regional and remote locations across the NT where there are no contracted providers.

The YDU, part of the Domestic Violence and Youth Command, operates from Darwin, Katherine and Alice Springs. The YDU Darwin unit is co-located with DoC’s Youth Justice Programs unit, for ease of collaboration, sharing of resources and information collaborating with service providers and other stakeholders to facilitate Territory-wide youth diversion assessments and deliver youth justice conferencing and diversion programs in regional and remote locations.

Courts 

If the court finds a charge proven against a young person, the decision may be made to:

• dismiss the charge or discharge the young person without penalty
• adjourn the matter for up to 6 months and, if the young person does not commit a further offence during that period, discharge them without penalty 
• adjourn the matter to a specified date within 12 months of the finding of guilt, and grant bail to the young person for the purposes of assessing prospects for rehabilitation, allowing the youth to demonstrate they have rehabilitated or for any other purpose the court considers appropriate
• order the young person to participate in a specified program that has been approved by the Minister
• order that the young person be released, subject to conditions including to observe any specified conditions, be of good behaviour for a specified period or appear before the court if called to do so 
• impose a fine 
• make a community work order
• order that the young person serve a term of detention or imprisonment that is suspended
• order that the young person serve a term of detention or imprisonment 
• make any other order that another court could make if the young person were an adult.

Key Programs and Support Mechanisms

Community Youth Justice 

Community Youth Justice (CYJ) is responsible for the supervision of young people who have committed, or are accused of committing a crime, and supports them to complete court ordered requirements as authorised primarily under the Act.  

Community Youth Justice Officers (CYJOs) are located in Alice Springs, Darwin, Katherine, Nhulunbuy and Tennant Creek. CYJO are responsible for case management and accessments, completing requested court reporting, supervising young people on a court order, support young people meet their legal obligations, supporting positive behaviour change, support young people and their families to navigate the YJ system, support young people to being compliant with their supervision orders, and community engagement and liaison. An on-call after-hours service for outside of normal business hours is available for families, young people on orders, Police and the electronic monitoring device company contact the on-call officers outside of hours relating to curfews, breaches and other immediate incidents involving supervised clients.

CYJOs play a crucial role in the YJ system, dedicated to supporting and rehabilitating young people in contact with the justice system. CYJOs work with young people, families, community organisations, and various stakeholders to deliver programs and services that promote positive behavioural changes, accountability, and reintegration into the community.

Case Management and Assessment

• CYJOs conduct comprehensive assessments of young people, considering various factors such as background, risk of re-offending, family circumstances, and specific needs. Based on these assessments, they develop individualised case plans to guide each young person's rehabilitation journey.
• CYJOs case management encompasses the Signs of Success model,Youth Level of Services/Case Management Invertory (YLS-CMI) assessments, and throughcare planning completed with care/case management team meetings (including National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) supports (CYJOs lead unless the young people is a child in care of Chief Executive Officer of the Department of Children and Families (DCF)    in which case, DCF have the lead). Support differs for each young person depending on their circumstances.

Community Engagement and Liaison

• CYJOs work with community organisations, family members, educational institutions, and healthcare providers to ensure a holistic approach to youth rehabilitation. CYJOs strengthen community ties, provide resources, and involve local services in the young person’s support network.

Court Support and Reporting

• CYJOs prepare and present reports for the YJ court, including bail assessments, supervision assessments and pre-sentence reports and recommendations on conditions that should be placed on orders. CYJOs also complete parole reports.
• CYJ represent the agency in youth and supreme court and can complete on the spot electronic monitoring device (EMD) assessments, compliance reporting and also provide insights to the court into the young person’s progress, challenges, and suitability for specific programs.

Monitoring and Compliance

• CYJOs monitor compliance with court orders, diversion programs, community work orders and conditions such as curfews, attendance at education or employment, and participation in programs. CYJOs conduct regular check-ins to assist young person meets their obligations.
• CYJOs are responsible for electronic monitoring when a young person is subject to an EMD. Assisting a young person to comply and reporting breached to the court or police. 

Diversion Programs 

Diversion programs are a central component of the NT youth justice strategy, aiming to divert young people away from formal court processes and towards constructive, community-based mandatory activities that address identified criminogenic needs and drivers of crime. 

Programs value the importance of giving victims of youth crime a voice and empowers victims to contribute to remediation activities for a young person. External providers also case management, provide intervention and address criminogenic behaviours to promote a pro-social identity.

Funded diversion providers collaborate with local community services to tailor programs that align with the young person's cultural and individual needs, fostering accountability and promoting positive social behaviour.

Youth Diversion Program 

NTG invests over $4.3 million in annual funding across 17 organisations to deliver the Youth Diversion Program (YDP). The YDP provides a formal pathway for young people who are alleged to have committed an offence, and are considered eligible for youth diversion under sections 39 and 64 of the Youth Justice Act 2005.

The program recognises that young people who have engaged in offending behaviour require support to change their behaviour by:

• Working with them to accept and take responsibility for their actions
• Addressing issues impacting their decision-making
• Building capacity to make better decisions in the future.

YDP provides case management through a tiered system aligned to the severity and frequency of offending, with program length and mandatory requirements tailored accordingly.

Supported Bail Accommodation Facilities

Three Supported Bail Accommodation facilities (facility/ies) operate in the NT to provide suitable accommodation and programs for young people on bail orders as well as supporting young people’s transition to community following a period of detention. 

DoC operates two facilities and funds a community organisation to operate the third facility.  

The facilities aim to increase the number of young people receiving bail instead of being remanded in custody, increase the young person’s ability to comply with the bail conditions, and reduce the risk factors associated with non-compliance with bail conditions.

The facilities may be used for police or court bail which may be conditional or unconditional and may or may not involve supervision by CYJOs.

While residing at a facility, a young person is supported to comply with their bail conditions, attend school or other education and training courses, connect with family and community and participate in programs, activities and specialist sessions appropriate to their developmental needs to reduce the risks of offending.

Supported short-term accommodation is also available at the facilities for young people leaving detention to assist their integration and reconnection with family and community. 

DOC has a Supported Bail Accommodation support line to receive enquiries and referrals from police, courts and providers. The support line operates 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. 

Restorative Youth Justice Conferencing

Restorative Youth Justice Conferencing (RYJC) is an evidence-based justice process used as a response to offences committed by a young person. The objective of utilising RYJC is to create an opportunity for the young person, the victim, a facilitator and when appropriate, other individuals or community members affected by the crime, to attend a conference to talk about the crime that occurred.

RYJF is proven to be an effective system to reduce reoffending and divert young people from the usual court processes. This program provides the courts with options for family group conferences and victim offender conferences.

Restorative Youth Justice Conferencing Victim Support Program

DOC funds Victims of Crime NT to deliver the RYJF Victim Support Program. The service provides dedicated, tailored and holistic victim support for victims of youth crime throughout the youth justice conferencing process. Conference occurs in a safe, structured, client focussed manner where all voices are invited and heard. 

Victims have the chance to speak openly and directly with the young person about how their offending has affected them, and those around them. Having victims involved in the conferencing process provides the victim with an opportunity for closure, and for young people to understand the impact of their actions. This process enables all parties to feel heard and agree on shared outcomes and goals, and oportunities to identify how the young person can give back. 

A number of options are currently available to the Courts through good behaviour orders, sentenced to a skill program, statutory community-based orders and community work orders. 

More programs are being designed to offer further community-based sentencing options and alternatives to detention through intensive mentoring and skills development.

Sentenced to a Skill

Sentenced to a Skill (STAS) is a structured, community-based sentencing option for young people aged 10 to 17 years old. The program provides skills development and supervision to support young people to meet their legal obligations, reduce the likelihood of reoffending, and build pathways into education and employment.

Young people may be sentenced to the STAS by a court for a period of 3 to 12 months. The decision may be based on a pre-sentence report prepared by CYJOs, or determined at sentencing where appropriate.

STAS is delivered in partnership with approved community organisations delivering tailored support and practical training based on the individual’s risks and needs.

Providers are responsible for:

• Pre-vocational and life skills may include:
• Reintegration into education
• Financial literacy
• Health and wellbeing
• Communication and relationships
• Cultural and community connection
• Volunteering and service to the community.

Vocational training and pathways may include:

• Job readiness and workplace expectations
• Industry courses (for example, white card, first aid, barista training)
• Rraineeships, apprenticeships or accredited short courses
• Re-engagement with formal education.

Youth Boot Camps

Youth boot camps (YBC) are designed as an alternative option to detention for young people aged 10 to 17 years old who have been found guilty of an offence and granted bail.

YBC offer structured and supervised community-based interventions, designed to address criminogenic behaviours, promote accountability and reparation, and give young people skills to support rehabilitation and re-integration.

DoC delivers YBC in partnership with local organisations and businesses in Alice Springs, Darwin and Tennant Creek.

Community Work Order

Young person aged 10 to 17 years old  found guilty of an offence, a court may issue them with a community work order (CWO). Under a CWO, young people do unpaid work that benefits the community and aims to repair the harm that they have caused. CWO also allows young people to develop pro-social behaviours, learn new skills and set a positive pathway.

A CWO may involve:

• Assisting charity stores or food banks
• Helping in aged care or Aboriginal and youth community centres
• Gelping with outdoor projects such as:
• Removing graffiti
• Grounds maintenance
• Rubbish removal
• Conservation and land management
• Landscaping
• CWO are deliver through partnerships with the DOC and community organisations.

Before the court makes their decision, a young person’s suitability for this work may be assessed by DOC. If a young person is issued a CWO, it’s their responsibility to take part in a project for a set amount of hours. The type of community work and number of hours they do is up to the court to decide. DOC will support the young person to follow their order and document their attendance. While completing the work, they will also be monitored at all times by the community organisation project's supervisor aswell as a CYJOs. 

Register of Appropriate Support Persons

The Register of Appropriate Support Persons (RASP) provides police with 24 hour access to support persons who are able to assist unaccompanied young people aged 10 to 17 years old when they are required to attend interviews and engage with police in relation to possible criminal matters.

The RASP is a legislated program in the Act (sections 14 and 35) that provides appropriate support for young people who are required to be interviewed or charged by police when a responsible adult is unavailable.  

Within RASP, support persons are present to provide emotional support for the young person, monitor the young person’s comprehension of the proceedings, while at the same time ensuring that their rights are upheld, and needs met. The young person will be supported to pursue their preferred way of proceeding within legal requirements, e.g., if the young person chooses not to interview.

Youth Detention

The Holtze Youth Detention Centre (HYDC), located in Darwin, is the NT’s only youth detention facility. A separate facility in Alice Springs supports the transfer of young people to HYDC from Central Australia. 

HYDC partner with the Australian Childhood Foundation who employ Aborignial Cultural Mentors to provide support and culturally appropriate through care for Central Australian young people in detention. 

The HYDC focuses on young person’s accountability and the addressing of offending behaviour. In July 2025, the Act was amended to increase safety for staff and allow for appropriate responses to challenging behaviours by reintroducing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and spit masks. Additional amendments were made to ensure that young people would be held accountable for their behaviour whilst in detention.

HYDC provides education, medical care, rehabilitation, reintergration and job readiness through self-delivered services such as leave of absences, external work experience and Vocational Education and Training (VET).

Case Coordination Team

Young people at HYDC are supported by an onsite Case Coordination Team (CCT) who are a team of professionals who provide case co-ordination for young person while in detention to ensure they are connected to appropriate programs and supports. The CCT develop comprehensive care plans and through-care planning to support the young person post-release including connection to family where possible. The CCT has Cultural Mentors to provide culturally informed support and advice on the cultural needs and family mapping.

Assessment and Treatment Team 

Young people at HYDC are also supported by an onsite Assessment and Treatment Team (ATT) which is made up of specialist psychologists and allied professionals who provide psychological support services, therapeutic and criminogenic programs, risks and psychologist assessments and therapeutic counselling.

The ATT oversee the court directed multi-disciplinary assessments and undertake assessment for young people with complex needs. 

Tailored programs are delivered to address the diverse needs of young people with a focus on rehabilitation and successful reintegration into the community. Their interventions typically include undertaking the initil risk and needs assessment of the young person on admission and support the journey of the young person while in detention. This is through the intake assessment which assists in understanding the young person and their immediate needs, alongside identifying appropriate assessment/s, supports and referrals that may be needed.

Intake/Transfer Facility 

Alice Springs Intake and Transfer Facility have a capacity for 4-6 detainees. Detainees are transferred to HYDC within 24-48 hours of entry to custody on the next available commercial flight and where required, a charter flight.

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[1] On 1 July 2019 Juvenile Justice NSW became Youth Justice NSW under machinery of government changes following the March 2019 state election

[2] Under the same machinery of government changes, following the state election in March 2019, the Department of Justice and the Department of Family and Community Services were merged to form the Department of Communities and Justice 

[3] As a result of the Machinery of Government change following the 2024 Queensland State Election the Department of Youth Justice and Victim Support was established.