The juvenile justice system is responsible for dealing with young people who have committed or allegedly committed an offence while considered to be a ‘juvenile’. Juvenile justice is a state and territory responsibility and each jurisdiction has its own legislation that dictates policies and practices with regard to juvenile justice. While there are differences in detail, the intent of the legislation is very similar across Australia. For example, key elements of juvenile justice in all jurisdictions include:
- diversion of young people from court where appropriate
- incarceration as a last resort
- victim’s rights
- the acceptance of responsibility by the offender for his or her behaviour
- community safety.
One of the ways in which the legislation varies across states and territories is in the definition of a 'juvenile'. In Queensland, juvenile justice legislation applies to those people who were aged 10-16 years at the time of the offence. In most other jurisdictions, however, those who were aged 10-17 years are included as juveniles. Victoria's juvenile legislation has been similar to Queensland's but from July 2005, Victoria's legislation is also expected to apply to juveniles aged 10-17 years. Victoria also has a sentencing option for adult courts which allows those aged 17-20 years where appropriate, to be sentenced to detention in juvenile justice facilities.
The juvenile justice system in each state and territory comprises several organisations, each having a different primary role and responsibility in dealing with young offenders:
- the police, who are usually the young person’s first point of contact with the justice system. Where considered appropriate, the Police may administer warnings, cautions and in some jurisdictions use conferencing to divert the juvenile from proceeding to court
- the courts (usually a special children’s or youth court), where matters regarding the charges against the young person are heard. The courts are largely responsible for decisions regarding bail (and remand) and sentencing options if the young person admits guilt or is found guilty by the court
- the juvenile justice departments, which are responsible for the supervision of juveniles on a range of community-based orders and supervised bail, and which are also responsible for the administration of juvenile detention centres.
There are only limited national data on young people in the juvenile justice system. The AIHW and all states and territories are currently implementing a national data collection that includes young offenders who are on supervised community-based orders or in detention centres. The first report from the Juvenile Justice National Minimum Data Set is expected to be available in late 2005, and to include data from 2000-01 to 2003-04. The quality of information collected on the Indigenous status of juvenile justice clients varies according to differing collection and recording practices in the states and territories. It is expected that quality will improve over the next couple of years as standardised methods are implemented.
National data are available on the number of young people held in juvenile justice detention centres, either on remand or after sentencing. Data for the years 1998-99 to 2002-03 are provided in tables 11.7 and 11.8. Few young people have contact with the juvenile justice system, and as indicated in these tables, only a small proportion of these young people are in juvenile detention centres. Many young people are diverted from the court when the offences committed are relatively minor and/or are a first offence. Of those young people who do go to court, most receive either non-supervised orders or community-based orders.
Tables 11.7 and 11.8 show that the rates of incarceration in juvenile detention centres for Indigenous people aged 10-17 years are higher than those for all Australians, in all jurisdictions. The data available for Australia (excluding Tasmania) indicate that between 1998-99 and 2000-01, around 40% of 10-17 year olds in detention centres were Indigenous. This rose during 2001-02 to 44% and during 2002-03 to 48%. It is estimated that less than 4% of the Australian population in that same age group were Indigenous at 30 June 2001.
11.7 Estimated average number of young people in juvenile corrective institutions(a), by state/territory - 1998-99 to 2002-03(b) |
|  |
| NSW | Vic. | Qld | SA | WA | Tas.(c) | NT | ACT | Australia | |
Indigenous | |
| |
| 1998-99 | 96 | 9 | 77 | 14 | 80 | na | 17 | 2 | 295 | |
| 1999-00 | 91 | 8 | 60 | 13 | 77 | na | 10 | 2 | 261 | |
| 2000-01 | 86 | 7 | 53 | 13 | 71 | na | 12 | 4 | 246 | |
| 2001-02 | 92 | 7 | 53 | 19 | 71 | na | 12 | 5 | 259 | |
| 2002-03 | 98 | 10 | 54 | 28 | 80 | na | 19 | 4 | 295 | |
Total | |
| |
| 1998-99 | 285 | 72 | 133 | 42 | 125 | 29 | 23 | 9 | 716 | |
| 1999-00 | 251 | 63 | 112 | 47 | 116 | 31 | 15 | 11 | 647 | |
| 2000-01 | 223 | 62 | 87 | 59 | 103 | 43 | 17 | 17 | 611 | |
| 2001-02 | 217 | 62 | 89 | 56 | 108 | 27 | 16 | 17 | 590 | |
| 2002-03 | 220 | 64 | 96 | 65 | 106 | 25 | 24 | 17 | 616 | |
| |
| na not available |
| (a) Based on the population of juvenile corrective institutions on the last day of each quarter of the financial year. |
| (b) As a result of variations in legislation, and the relatively small number of young people in detention centres in some jurisdictions, care should be taken when comparing the data across jurisdictions and time. |
| (c) Data for Indigenous children in Tasmania are unavailable due to data quality concerns. |
| SCRGSP 2005: tables F2 and F5 |
11.8 Estimated average number of young people in juvenile corrective institutions(a)(b), per 100,000 population by states/territories - 1998-99 to 2002-03 |
| |
| NSW | Vic. | Qld | SA | WA | Tas.(c) | NT | ACT | Australia | |
Indigenous | |
| |
| 1998-99 | 393.9 | 201.8 | 347.1 | 314.7 | 677.7 | na | 173.5 | 236.1 | 378.6 | |
| 1999-00 | 343.5 | 181.9 | 250.8 | 266.2 | 624.1 | na | 97.6 | 284.1 | 315.1 | |
| 2000-01 | 324.9 | 142.4 | 222.2 | 265.9 | 565.4 | na | 121.4 | 524.7 | 294.5 | |
| 2001-02 | 351.4 | 135.8 | 221.1 | 388.2 | 555.6 | na | 119.9 | 624.4 | 307.9 | |
| 2002-03 | 353.8 | 173.6 | 212.0 | 538.1 | 604.7 | na | 182.6 | 458.6 | 326.6 | |
Total | |
| |
| 1998-99 | 40.6 | 14.2 | 32.9 | 25.6 | 57.5 | 51.7 | 92.5 | 24.8 | 34.0 | |
| 1999-00 | 35.5 | 12.4 | 27.2 | 29.1 | 52.8 | 45.7 | 61.2 | 30.2 | 30.4 | |
| 2000-01 | 31.1 | 12.0 | 21.0 | 36.4 | 46.2 | 61.8 | 68.6 | 46.6 | 28.4 | |
| 2001-02 | 30.0 | 11.9 | 20.9 | 34.1 | 47.9 | 48.6 | 63.0 | 47.4 | 27.2 | |
| 2002-03 | 30.3 | 12.1 | 22.3 | 40.2 | 47.0 | 45.1 | 94.0 | 45.9 | 28.1 | |
| |
| na not available |
| (a) Based on the average population of juvenile corrective institutions on the last day of each quarter of the financial year. |
| (b) As a result of variations in legislation, and the relatively small number of young people in detention centres in some jurisdictions, care should be taken when comparing the data across jurisdictions and time. |
| (c) Data for children in Tasmania are not available due to data quality concerns. |
| SCRGSP 2005: tables F3 and F6 |
The data also show that the national detention rate for Indigenous young people has fluctuated over the five-year period, from a high of 379 per 100,000 in 1998-99 to a low of 295 per 100,000 in 2000-01, before rising again to 327 per 100,000 in 2002-03. While the overall rate of detention for those aged 10-17 years has generally declined, from 34 per 100,000 in 1998-99 to 28 per 100,000 in 2002-03, Indigenous young people are still detained at more than ten times the rate of all young people.
The over-representation of Indigenous people in the justice system is not confined to young people. At 30 June 2004, Indigenous Australians constituted 21% of all people incarcerated in Australian prisons (ABS 2004g).
Print Page
Print All