Youth justice in Australia 2024-25

Youth justice policies are determined by state and territory governments and are largely implemented by youth justice agencies. Appendix 4 outlines information about the policy directions in each state and territory.

In 2024–25, some of the most commonly identified policy directions included:

• undertaking early intervention to provide services and programs to at-risk young people and their families
• offering alternatives to detention, including the use of warnings, cautions and conferencing
• delivering better outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people
• providing an individualised, therapeutic, culturally safe and trauma-informed approach to youth justice service delivery to prevent escalation of anti-social or offending behaviour
• designing and delivering programs to reduce reoffending
• increasing the minimum age of criminal responsibility, or announcing an intention to do so in the coming years
• improving the services and supports provided to young people with disability to achieve equity and inclusion in the youth justice system
• improving infrastructure in detention facilities, and investing in the capacity and capability of the youth justice workforce to maximise safety and stability within the youth justice system
• the removal of detention as a last resort as a principle guiding youth justice (NT and Qld specific)
• the introduction of tougher sentencing and consequences for youth justice offenders in an effort to promote community safety and support victims of crime
• working collaboratively to support shared clients in child protection, out of home care and youth justice, to improve their individual circumstances and life trajectory.

 Young people's involvement in the youth justice system is affected not only by policies implemented by youth justice agencies but also by policies developed in other areas such as child protection, accommodation and housing assistance services, education, employment, family and community services, and health. 

Recommendations from the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory continue to be considered and implemented (Royal Commission, Australian Government 2017). As recommended by the Royal Commission, the Northern Territory provided YJ NMDS standard data from 2017–18 onwards, which had not been possible since 2008–09.

In August 2023, the Northern Territory raised the minimum age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 12. In October 2024, the Northern Territory lowered the criminal age of responsibility back to 10.

Due to the implementation of a new information system ahead of the 2022–23 YJ NMDS submission, data for the Northern Territory will not be comparable to Youth justice in Australia releases prior to 2022–23.

Additionally, new legislation was implemented to the Northern Territory youth justice system on 15 May 2021 – the Youth Justice Legislation Amendment Act (YJLAA) 2021 (the Act). The intent of the Act was to target repeat youth offenders to reduce youth crime. The Act resulted in some key changes to processes of the youth justice system. This change in legislation may have affected the number and rate of young people in detention in the Northern Territory.

In Australia, the Meeting of Attorneys-General (MAG) reviewed Australia’s age of criminal responsibility. MAG noted that the Australian Capital Territory and Northern Territory committed to raising the minimum age of criminal responsibility, and states supported the development of proposals to raise the minimum age, having regard to any carve outs, timing and discussion of implementation requirements (MAG 2022). 

In May 2023, the Australian Capital Territory introduced legislation to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 12 initially (this was implemented in November 2023). The minimum age was again raised from 12 to 14 years of age on the 1 July 2025. 

In April 2023, Victoria made an announcement to raise the criminal age of responsibility to 12 by the end of 2024, and to 14 in 2027. In August 2024, Victoria announced that they would no longer raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14. In September 2025, the minimum age of criminal responsibility was raised to 12.

In June 2022, Tasmania committed to raising the age of criminal detention from 10 to 14 years old. Subsequently, in September 2023, the Commission of Inquiry into the Tasmanian Government’s Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Institutional Settings report recommended that the Government introduce legislation to increase the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 14 years, without exception. It was recommended that Tasmania work towards increasing the minimum age of detention (including remand) to 16 years by developing alternatives to detention for children aged 14 and 15 years who are found guilty of serious violent offences and who may be a danger to themselves or the community. The Tasmanian Government has accepted this recommendation.

In July 2020, the Australian Government released The National Agreement on Closing the Gap. Outcome 11 of the new agreement aims to reduce the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people in the criminal justice system. The target is to reduce the rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people in detention by at least 30% by 2031 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).