Juveniles' Contact With the Criminal Justice System in Australia

• NCJ Number: 228889
• Author(s): Kelly Richards
• Date Published: 2009
• Length: 129 pages
• Sale Source: Australian Institute of Criminology
• Publication Format: Book (Softbound)
• Publication Type: Statistics
• Language: English
• Country: Australia
• Note: AIC Reports Monitoring Reports 07

Annotation

This report presents the first data collection from Australian jurisdictions on juveniles' contact with the criminal justice system as both alleged/convicted offenders and complainants/victims.

Abstract

The first of four main sections of this report presents data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics on juveniles' contact with the police as complainants and victims of crime for selected offenses during 2007. Homicide data on juvenile victims are provided by the Australian Institute of Criminology for the 18-years from 1989-90 to 2006-07. Police data on juvenile complainants from each Australian jurisdiction are then presented. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare presents child protection data for the 2006-07 fiscal year in order to indicate the extent of child abuse and neglect in Australia. This section concludes with a presentation of the limited available data on long-term child abuse and protection trends. The second section identifies data sources for alleged juvenile offenders' contact with the police in each jurisdiction. The limitations of such data are noted, along with implications for comparability among jurisdictions. After discussing the proportion of alleged offender contacts with police that involve juveniles, this section presents data by jurisdiction on the characteristics of alleged juvenile offenders who have come in contact with police. The characteristics include gender, Indigenous status, age, and offense type. The outcomes of these contacts are noted by gender, Indigenous status, and age. The section concludes with data on juvenile homicide offenders in Australia for 1989-90 to 2006-07. The third section presents data on juveniles' contact with the children's courts as alleged offenders for the 2006-07 fiscal year by gender, age, and offense type. Data on sentencing outcomes are included as well. The final section presents data on alleged juvenile offenders' contact with corrections systems in Australia. 52 figures, 55 tables, and 55 references