NCJ Number
220516
Date Published
June 2007
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This paper reports on an analysis of Northern Territory police records in Australia on several thousand apprehended juveniles over a 5-year period, specifically the diversion of juveniles from the court process under the juvenile precourt diversion scheme and its impact.
Abstract
Several key findings for the development of policy in relation to juvenile offenders include: (1) most juveniles did not reoffend during the first year after completion of the initial event; (2) the majority of offenders were Indigenous males; (3) there were significant differences in the outcomes at the end of the 5-year period in gender and Indigenous status of those who would have reoffended; and (4) the majority of juveniles committed property offenses and those who did so and who attended court reoffended to a much greater extent than other groups. The juvenile precourt diversion scheme was introduced in the Northern Territory (NT) of Australia in 2000. The scheme provided precourt diversion for juveniles from 10 to 18 years of age. The goals of the scheme were to provide and maintain an effective alternative to the prosecution and sentencing of young offenders in the formal justice system and encourage young offenders to be responsible members of the community by providing opportunities for positive behavioral change and improvement in life skills through diversion activities. This report presents findings from an analysis of juvenile offenders and their reoffending behavior in relation to the juvenile precourt diversion scheme in the NT. The data was taken from the Police Realtime Online Management System (PROMIS) for the 5-year period, August 2000 to August 2005. Table, figures, references