The youth justice system manages children and young people who have committed, or allegedly committed, an offence. In Australia, youth justice is the responsibility of the states and territories, and each has its own legislation, policies and practices. However, the general processes by which young people are charged and sentenced, and the types of legal...

This report estimates the costs of crime for the calendar year 2011. Executive summary This report seeks to estimate how much crime costs the Australian economy by calculating the number of crimes that come to the attention of the authorities and, using crime victimisation survey data, the number of crimes that are not recorded officially...

This report presents information on young people under youth justice supervision, both in the community and in detention, during 2012–13. It explores the characteristics of their supervision and recent trends. Data are reported for all states and territories except WA and the NT. National totals include estimates for all jurisdictions where possible. Around 6,300 young...

The age at which an individual first experiments with illicit drugs has been of significant interest to policymakers and practitioners, primarily because research has persistently shown a link between early juvenile onset of drug use and less favourable health and criminal justice outcomes in adulthood. drug users who have regular contact with the criminal justice...

Estimating the extent to which criminal activity can be attributed to substance use is a challenging but important task. Quantifying the nexus between drugs and crime contributes to a robust assessment of the cost and burden of alcohol and drug abuse to the Australian community. For the criminal justice system in particular, drug crime estimates...