Youth justice in Australia 2024–25

Due to the increased minimum age of criminal responsibility in the Australian Capital Territory in 2023, the 2023–24 and 2024–25 rates are presented for young people aged 12–17. The Northern Territory increased the minimum age of criminal responsibility for 2023–24 only, so 2023–24 rates are presented for young people aged 12–17 whilst 2024–25 rates are for young people aged 10–17. The Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory have been removed from any rates trend commentary due to the break in series as the rates are not comparable to previous years.

Recent trends – 2020-21 to 2024-25

On an average day over the 5-year period between 2020–21 and 2024–25 under youth justice supervision:

• the number of First Nations young people (including those aged 18 and over) rose by 4.9% from 2,081 to 2,183 (Table S11a)
• the number of non-Indigenous young people aged 10 and over fell by 21% – from 2,453 to 1,927 (Table S11a)
• the rate of First Nations young people aged 10–17 under youth justice supervision rose from 106 to 109 per 10,000. In the most recent year from 2023–24, the rate fell from 113 to 109 per 10,000 in 2024–25 (Table S12a)
• the rate of non-Indigenous young people fell from 7.2 to 5.4 per 10,000 (Table S12a)
• First nations over-representation increased. In 2020–21, First Nations young people aged 10–17 were about 15 times as likely as their non-Indigenous counterparts to be under supervision, rising to about 20 times as likely in 2024–25 (Table S12a).

 On an average day over the same 5-year period under community-based supervision:

• the number of First Nations young people aged 10 and over remained largely constant, increasing by only 1% – from 1,731 to 1,743 (Table S44a)
• the number of non-Indigenous young people aged 10 and over fell by 24% – from 2,072 to 1,581 (Table S44a) 
• the rate of First Nations young people aged 10–17 fell from 87 to 85 per 10,000 (Table S45a)
• the rate of non-Indigenous young people fell from 6.0 to 4.4 per 10,000 (Table S45a)
• First Nations over-representation increased. In 2020–21, First Nations young people aged 10–17 were about 14 times as likely as their non-Indigenous counterparts to be under community-based supervision, rising to about 19 times as likely in 2024–25 (Table S45a).

On an average day over the 5-year period in detention:

• the number of First Nations young people aged 10 and over increased by 26% (from 394 to 497) (Table S82a)
• the number of non-Indigenous young people fell by 9% (from 396 to 359) (Table S82a)
• the rate of First Nations young people aged 10–17 increased from 20 to 26 per 10,000 (Table S83a)
• the non-Indigenous rate declined marginally from 1.3 to 1.1 per 10,000 (Table S83a)
• First Nations over-representation increased. In 2020–21, First Nations young people aged 10–17 were about 16 times as likely as their non-Indigenous counterparts to be in detention, rising to about 23 times as likely in 2024–25 (Table S83a). 

On an average day over the 5-year period, when comparing states and territories:

• the rates of First Nations young people under supervision fell in Victoria (58 to 38 per 10,000) and Western Australia (139 to 125 per 10,000) (Tables 3.2 and S12a)
• the rates for non-Indigenous young people fell in all states and territories where data was available, except for Tasmania. New South Wales (7.6 to 5.0 per 10,000) and Victoria (6.2 to 3.8 per 10,000) had the largest declines over the 5-year period (Table S12a).
• the rates for First Nations young people aged 10–17 under community-based supervision fell in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland, with Victoria (50 to 30 per 10,000) showing the largest decline (Table S45a)

there was a decline in the rate of First Nations young people aged 10–17 in detention for Western Australia (from 37 to 22 per 10,000) and Victoria (from 8.8 to 8.1 per 10,000). The Northern Territory (26 to 35 per 10,000) had the largest increase over the 5-year period (see Table 3.2) (Table S83a).

Notes

1. Arrows indicate an overall change between 2020–21 and 2024–25. Unchanged arrows (↔) indicate a change of +/-0.4 over the 5-year period. Trends might have fluctuated between these years, particularly for smaller jurisdictions.
2. Data might differ from those previously published due to data revisions.
3. Age on an average day is calculated based on the age a young person is each day that they are under supervision. If a young person changes age during a period of supervision, the average daily number under supervision will reflect this. Average daily data broken down by age will not be comparable with data in Youth justice in Australia releases before 2019–20.
4. The number and rate of young people in the Northern Territory is not available for 2024-25 for all supervision and community-based supervision.
5. Rates for the Australian Capital Territory in 2024–25 are for young people aged 12–17 due to the increase to the minimum age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 12 in that jurisdiction.

Source: tables S12a, S45a, and S83a.

Longer trends – 2016-17 to 2024-25

On an average day over the 9-year period between 2016–17 and 2024–25, the rate of First Nations young people aged 10–17:

• under youth justice supervision fell from 150 to 109 per 10,000, while the non-Indigenous rate fell from 9.5 to 5.4 per 10,000 (Table S12a)
• under community-based supervision fell from 122 to 85 per 10,000 (Table S45a)
• in detention fell from 29 to 26 per 10,000 (Table S83a).

Nationally, between 2016–17 and 2024–25, the rate of detention for First Nation’s young people remains above the levels required to meet Closing the Gap Target 11 ”By 2031, reduce the rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people (10–⁠17 years) in detention by at least 30%”, that is from 31.9 per 10,000 young people on an average day in 2018–19 to 22.3 per 10,000 young people by 2030–31 (Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, 2020).

Between 2016–17 and 2024–25 the drop in the rate of young people under supervision on an average day for non-Indigenous young people was proportionally greater than that for First Nations young people. This means that First Nations over-representation rose (from 16 to 20 times the non‑Indigenous rate) (Table S12a).

The over-representation of First Nations young people under youth justice supervision (as measured by the rate ratio) on an average day increased overall in New South Wales, Queensland and Tasmania between 2016–17 and 2024–25 and declined in Victoria, Western Australia and South Australia (Table S12a). Results for the smaller states and territories should be interpreted with caution due to the small number of First Nations and non-Indigenous young people under youth justice supervision.

The rate of First Nations young people aged 10–17 under supervision fell overall in most states and territories between 2016–17 and 2024–25, except for Tasmania where rates fluctuated over the period. The largest falls were seen in Western Australia (from 252 to 125 per 10,000), Victoria (from 106 to 38 per 10,000) and South Australia (190 to 122 per 10,000) (Table S12a).