RoGS Reports

The annual Report on Government Services (RoGS) provides information on the equity, effectiveness and efficiency of government services in Australia. RoGS is progressively released between 23 January and 1 February.

Youth Justice comprises chapter 17 of RoGS. This chapter reports on the performance of governments in providing youth justice services across Australia.

Further information on the RoGS including other reported services areas, the glossary and list of abbreviations are available at www.pc.gov.au/rogs/

RoGS 2022

Chapter 17 Youth Justice Services was released on 25 January 2022.

NOTE: RoGS is now presented in a new online format. Dynamic data visualisations replace the static chapter format used in previous editions. Machine readable data are also available for download. A guide is available on accessing information in the new format.

RoGS 2021

Chapter 17 Youth Justice Services was released on 20 January 2021.

Key Facts

The average daily number of young people aged 10–17 years under youth justice supervision in Australia during 2019-20 was 4266. The majority of these young people were supervised on community-based orders (which include supervised bail, probation and parole) — nationally, on an average day in 2019-20, 85.3 per cent of young people aged 10–17 years who were supervised by youth justice services were in the community, with the remainder in detention.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people were significantly overrepresented in youth justice detention. Nationally during 2019-20, the average daily detention rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 10–17 years was 24.8 per 10 000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young person, 18 times the rate for non-Indigenous young people (1.4 per 10 000).

Total recurrent expenditure on detention-based supervision, community-based supervision and group conferencing was $1.0 billion across Australia in 2019-20, with detention-based supervision accounting for the majority of this expenditure (58.1 per cent, or $584.5 million).

Youth justice services aim to promote community safety, rehabilitate and reintegrate young people who offend, and contribute to a reduction in youth re offending.

To achieve these aims, governments seek to provide youth justice services that:

divert young people who offend from further progression into the youth justice system to alternative services
assist young people who offend to address their offending behaviour
provide a safe and secure environment for the protection of young people during their time in detention
assist young people who are in youth justice detention to return to the community
promote the importance of the families and communities of young people who offend, particularly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, in the provision of services and programs
support young people to understand the impact of their offending on others, including victims and the wider community
recognise the rights of victims.

Governments aim for youth justice services to meet these objectives in an equitable and efficient manner.

RoGS 2020

Chapter 17 Youth Justice Services was released on 23 January 2020.

Key Facts

The average daily number of young people aged 10–17 years under youth justice supervision in Australia during 2018-19 was 4790. The majority of these young people were supervised on community-based orders (which include supervised bail, probation and parole) — nationally, on an average day in 2018-19, 85.0 per cent of young people aged 10–17 years who were supervised by youth justice services were in the community, with the remainder in detention.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people were significantly overrepresented in youth justice detention. Nationally during 2018-19, the average daily detention rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 10–17 years was 31.2 per 10 000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people, 23 times the rate for non-Indigenous young people (1.4 per 10 000).

Total recurrent expenditure on detention-based supervision, community-based supervision and group conferencing was $916.6 million across Australia in 2018-19, with detention-based supervision accounting for the majority of this expenditure (58.9 per cent, or $539.6 million).

Youth justice services aim to promote community safety, rehabilitate and reintegrate young people who offend, and contribute to a reduction in youth re offending.

To achieve these aims, governments seek to provide youth justice services that:

divert young people who offend from further progression into the youth justice system to alternative services
assist young people who offend to address their offending behaviour
provide a safe and secure environment for the protection of young people during their time in detention
assist young people who are in youth justice detention to return to the community
promote the importance of the families and communities of young people who offend, particularly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, in the provision of services and programs
support young people to understand the impact of their offending on others, including victims and the wider community
recognise the rights of victims.

Governments aim for youth justice services to meet these objectives in an equitable and efficient manner.

RoGS 2019

Chapter 17 Youth Justice Services was released on 22 January 2019.

Key Facts

The average daily number of young people aged 10–17 years under youth justice supervision in Australia during 2017-18 was 4765. The majority of these young people were supervised on community-based orders (which include supervised bail, probation and parole) — nationally, on an average day in 2017-18, 82.7 per cent of young people aged 10–17 years who were supervised by youth justice services were in the community, with the remainder in detention.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people were significantly overrepresented in youth justice detention. Nationally during 2017-18, the average daily detention rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 10–17 years was 35.2 per 10 000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people, 24 times the rate for non-Indigenous young people (1.5 per 10 000).

Total recurrent expenditure on detention-based supervision, community-based supervision and group conferencing was $842.4 million across Australia in 2017-18, with detention based supervision accounting for the majority of this expenditure (60.4 per cent, or $509.1 million).

Youth justice services aim to promote community safety, rehabilitate and reintegrate young people who offend, and contribute to a reduction in youth re offending.

To achieve these aims, governments seek to provide youth justice services that:

divert young people who offend from further progression into the youth justice system to alternative services
assist young people who offend to address their offending behaviour
provide a safe and secure environment for the protection of young people during their time in detention
assist young people who are in youth justice detention to return to the community
promote the importance of the families and communities of young people who offend, particularly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, in the provision of services and programs
support young people to understand the impact of their offending on others, including victims and the wider community
recognise the rights of victims.

Governments aim for youth justice services to meet these objectives in an equitable and efficient manner.

RoGS 2018

Chapter 17 Youth Justice Services was released on 23 January 2018.

Key Facts

A total of 11,007 young people aged 10-17 years were supervised by youth justice agencies during 2015-16. The majority of these young people were supervised on community-based orders (which include supervised bail, probation and parole) – nationally, on an average day in 2015-16, 83.6 percent of young people aged 10-17 years who were supervised by youth justice services were in the community, with the remainder in detention.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people were significantly overrepresented in youth justice detention. Nationally, the daily average detention rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 10-17 years was 372.6 per 100,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people, 25 times the rate for non-Indigenous young people (14.7 per 100,000).

Total recurrent expenditure on detention-based supervision, community-based supervision and group conferencing was $769.5 million across Australia in 2016-17, with detention based supervision accounting for the majority of this expenditure (62.6 percent, or $482.1 million).

Youth justice services aim to promote community safety, rehabilitate and reintegrate young people who offend, and contribute to a reduction in youth reoffending.

To achieve these aims, governments seek to provide youth justice services that:

divert young people who offend from further progression into the youth justice system to alternative services
assist young people who offend to address their offending behaviour
provide a safe and secure environment for the protection of young people during their time in detention
assist young people who are in youth justice detention to return to the community
promote the importance of the families and communities of young people who offend, particularly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, in the provision of services and programs
support young people to understand the impact of their offending on others, including victims and the wider community
recognise the rights of victims.

Governments aim for youth justice services to meet these objectives in an equitable and efficient manner.