Summary

This report looks at young people who were under youth justice supervision in Australia during 2021–22 because of their involvement or alleged involvement in crime. It explores the key aspects of supervision, both in the community and in detention, as well as recent trends. Some data are included from the period during which COVID-19 and related social restrictions were present in Australia, specifically between March 2020 and June 2022.

About 4,500 young people aged 10 and over were under supervision on an average day

A total of 4,536 young people aged 10 and over were under youth justice supervision on an average day in 2021–22 and 8,982 young people were supervised at some time during the year.

Nearly all young people (96%) under youth justice supervision on an average day were aged 14 and over. This was similar for community-based supervision (96%) and detention (95%).

Among those aged 10–17 under youth justice supervision, the rate of youth justice supervision on an average day in 2021–22 was 13 per 10,000.

Most young people were supervised in the community

Just over 4 in 5 (82%) young people under supervision on an average day were supervised in the community, and about 1 in 5 (18%) were in detention.

The majority of young people in detention were unsentenced

Just over 3 in 4 (76%) young people in detention on an average day were unsentenced—that is, awaiting the outcome of their legal matter or sentencing.

Young people spent an average of 6 months under supervision

Individual periods of supervision that were completed during 2021–22 lasted for a median of 99 days or about 3 months. (This includes time under supervision before 1 July 2021 if the period started before that date.)

When all time spent under supervision during 2021–22 is considered (including multiple periods and periods that were not yet completed), young people who were supervised during the year spent an average of 185 days (about 6 months) under supervision.

Supervision rates varied among the states and territories

Rates of youth justice supervision varied among the states and territories, reflecting, in part, the differences in legislation, policies and practices between each state and territory.

In 2021–22, the rate of young people aged 10–17 under supervision on an average day ranged from 5.8 per 10,000 in Victoria to 46 per 10,000 in the Northern Territory.

Across each supervision type, the average daily number and rate of supervision has fallen over the 5 years to 2021–22

Over the 5 years from 2017–18 to 2021–22, the number of young people aged 10 and over who were under supervision on an average day fell by 18% (from 5,505 to 4,536), while the rate of young people aged 10–17 fell by 29% (from 19 to 13 per 10,000).

Between 2017–18 and 2021–22, the number of young people aged 10 and over under community-based supervision on an average day fell by 18% (from 4,563 to 3,742), while the rate fell 32% (from 16 to 11 per 10,000) for those aged 10–17.

Over the 5 years from 2017–18 and 2021–22, the number of young people aged 10 and over in detention on an average day fell by 15% (from 971 to 822), while the rate of young people aged 10–17 declined by 19% (3.4 to 2.7 per 10,000).

Rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people under supervision have fallen

The vast majority of Indigenous young people have never been under supervision with 1.2% of Indigenous young people aged 10–17 being under youth justice supervision on an average day in 2021–22.

Of young people aged 10–17 on an average day in 2021–22, there were:

  • 1,781 (52%) Indigenous young people under youth justice supervision
  • 1,381 (51%) Indigenous young people under community-based supervision
  • 416 (60%) Indigenous young people in detention.

Indigenous young people are under youth justice supervision at much higher rates than non-Indigenous young people. Between 2017–18 and 2021–22, the rate of Indigenous young people aged 10–17 under supervision on an average day fell from 162 to 121 per 10,000. The rate of non-Indigenous young people under supervision also fell over the period, from 9.6 to 6.5 per 10,000.

The rate of Indigenous young people under community-based supervision aged 10–17 declined from 130 per 10,000 in 2017–18 to 94 per 10,000 in 2021–22, while non-Indigenous rates fell, from 8.2 to 5.4 per 10,000.

The rate for Indigenous young people aged 10–17 in detention declined from 33 to 28 per 10,000 over the 5-year period, while the non-Indigenous rates declined from 1.5 and 1.2 per 10,000.

Young people in remote areas were more likely to be under supervision

Although most young people under supervision had come from cities and regional areas (87%), those from geographically remote areas had the highest rates of supervision.

On an average day in 2021–22, young people aged 10–17 who were from Very remote areas were 7 times as likely to be under supervision as those from Major cities. This largely reflects the higher proportions of Indigenous Australians living in these areas.

Young people from lower socioeconomic areas were more likely to be under supervision

More than 1 in 3 young people (35%) under supervision on an average day in 2021–22 were from the lowest socioeconomic areas, compared with about 1 in 16 young people (6.1%) from the highest socioeconomic areas.

About 1 in 3 young people were new to supervision

About one-third (34%) of young people under youth justice supervision in 2021–22 were new to supervision in that year. The rest (66%) had been supervised in a previous year.

Young Indigenous Australians (67%) were slightly more likely than non-Indigenous young people (66%) to have been under supervision in a previous year.

Indigenous Australians were younger when they entered supervision than their non‑Indigenous counterparts

On average, Indigenous young people entered youth justice supervision at a younger age than non-Indigenous young people.

More than a third (36%, or 1,518) of Indigenous young people under supervision in 2021–22 were first supervised when aged 10–13 compared with about 1 in 7 (14%, or 634) non‑Indigenous young people.
 

Next page