Youth justice in Australia 2021-22

This fact sheet summarises key findings of young people under youth justice supervision for Victoria, including the number and rate of young people under community-based supervision and in detention. It also summarises data on young people by age, sex, Indigenous status, legal status, time under supervision and contains trends.

Number and rate

On an average day in 2021–22, in Victoria:

• 727 young people aged 10 and over were under youth justice supervision (Table S129a)
• More than 4 in 5 (84%) were supervised in the community (Table S129b), and the rest (17%) were in detention (Table S129c) (the proportion of young people under community-based supervision and in detention may not sum to 100% as young people may have been under community-based supervision and in detention on the same day)
• the rate of supervision was 5.8 per 10,000 young people aged 10–17 (Table S130a)
• 4.6 per 10,000 young people aged 10–17 were under community-based supervision (Table S130b), and 1.3 per 10,000 were in detention (Table S130c).

Age and sex

On an average day in 2021–22, in Victoria:

• 50% of those under supervision were aged 10–17, and the rest were 18 and over (in Victoria, some young people aged 18–20 may be sentenced to detention in a youth facility rather than adult prison under the ‘dual track’ system).
• 86% of those under supervision were male  
• males and females under supervision were most likely to be aged 18 or over (Table S129a).
   

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people

On an average day in 2021–22, in Victoria:

• Indigenous young people made up 1.7% of those aged 10–17 in the general population, but 15% (or 55) of those of the same age under supervision (tables S129a and S144)
• A similar proportion of Indigenous young people aged 10–17 were under community-based supervision (16% or 46) and in detention (13% or 9.9) (tables S129b and S129c)
• Indigenous young people aged 10–17 were nearly 11 times as likely as non-Indigenous young people to be under supervision (53 per 10,000 compared with 5.0 per 10,000) (Table S130a)
• Indigenous over-representation was similar in community-based supervision (11 times the non-Indigenous rate) and in detention (almost 9 times the non-Indigenous rate) (tables S130b and S130c).

Time under supervision

In 2021–22, in Victoria:

• completed periods of supervision lasted a median length of 264 days (about 38 weeks) (Table S29)
• when all time spent under supervision during the year is considered, young people spent an average of 197 days (28 weeks) under supervision (Table S30).

Sentenced and unsentenced detention

On an average day in 2021–22, in Victoria:

• 3 in 5 (61%) young people in detention were unsentenced—that is, they were awaiting the outcome of their court matter, or had been found guilty and were awaiting sentencing
• 39% of young people in detention were serving a sentence (Table S108a).

Trends to 2021–22

Over the 5 years to 2021–22, on an average day, in Victoria:

• the number of all young people under supervision fell by 30% (from 1,036 in 2017–18 to 727 in 2021–22) (Table S129a), while the rate fell from 11 to 5.8 per 10,000 young people aged 10–17 (Table S12a)
• in community-based supervision, the number fell by 27% (Table S129b), while the rate fell from 8.7 to 4.6 per 10,000 young people aged 10–17 (Table S45a)
• in detention, the number fell by 41% (Table S129c), while the rate fell from 2.0 to 1.3 per 10,000 young people aged 10–17 (Table S83a)
• The rate of Indigenous young people aged 10–17 under supervision fell from 111 to 53 per 10,000 (Table S12a).
   

This fact sheet is part of the Youth justice in Australia 2021–22 release, which includes a report, state and territory fact sheets and supplementary data tables.

Together, these provide comprehensive information about young people under youth justice supervision in Australia due to their involvement, or alleged involvement, in crime.

For more information see the Youth justice topic.