Youth justice in Australia 2024-25

A major feature of any youth justice system is the supervision of young people on legal orders. They may be supervised in the community or in detention facilities. 

Most young people under youth justice supervision are supervised in the community rather than in detention. This is partly because a key principle in Australian youth justice is the idea that young people should be placed in detention only as a last resort. 

This principle is contained in youth justice legislation in each state and territory, with the exception of Queensland and the Northern Territory (see Principles, services and outcomes). It is also consistent with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN 1989) and the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice (also known as the Beijing Rules) (UN 1985). The Convention on the Rights of the Child states that children should be deprived of liberty only as a last resort and for the shortest appropriate period.

Supervision may take place while young people are unsentenced – that is, when they have been charged with an offence and are awaiting the outcome of their court matter, or when they have been found or have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing. 

Most of those under supervision on an average day are sentenced – that is, they have been found guilty in court, and received a sentence. Both unsentenced and sentenced supervision can take place in the community and in detention (Table 1.1).

Unsentenced community-based supervision consists of supervised or conditional bail (which may include conditions such as curfew or a monetary bond) and home detention bail. 

Sentenced community-based supervision comprises:

1. probation and similar orders – where regular reporting to the youth justice agency and participation in treatment programs may be required
2. suspended detention – where the young person must meet certain conditions (for example, abiding by a curfew, reporting to police or living at a specified address) or not re‑offend within a specified time period 
3. parole or supervised release – supervision that follows a period of detention. 

In Australia, information about young people under youth justice supervision is collected in the Youth Justice National Minimum Data Set (YJ NMDS). Table 1.2 provides a summary of the types of youth justice services that are available in the states and territories, and specifies the availability of data across the jurisdictions. 

✔ Youth justice outcome or service that is available in the state or territory.

a.  In Tasmania, legislation does not explicitly preclude police-referred detention, but no orders of this type have been included in the NMDS submission. 

b. This is a youth justice outcome or service that is available in the state or territory but is outside the scope of the YJ NMDS. 

c. Suspended detention and supervised release from detention includes probation and parole. Principles, services and outcomes