Youth Justice in Australia 2020-2021

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare have released their annual “Youth Justice in Australia 2020-21” report. 1,610 young people aged 10 and over were under youth justice supervision on an average day in Queensland in 2020-2021 with 86% supervised in the community, 15% in detention. Young people spent an average of 35 weeks under supervision. A rise in numbers of young people aged ten and over under supervision over a 5 year period is related to legislative changes in Queensland which increased the age limit for youth justice from 16 to 17 in  February 2018. The rate of young people aged 10-17 under supervision has decreased over the 5 year period.

Of those young people under youth justice supervision in 2020-2021, nearly 4 in 5 were male (78%) and 64% were Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander with Indigenous young people, being 21 times more likely than non-Indigenous young people to be under youth justice supervision. Both males and females under supervision were most likely to be aged 18 or over, having committed their offences when they were 17. In youth detention, 91% were un-sentenced—that is, they were awaiting the outcome of their court matter, or had been found guilty and were awaiting sentencing.

Go to “Youth justice in Australia 2020–21, Summary - Australian Institute of Health and Welfare”