Socio-economic outcome area 11

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people are not overrepresented in the criminal justice system

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Driver

Proportion of young alleged offenders (10-17 years) involved in police proceedings

Including charges and summons, cautions, diversions

Dashboard snapshot: The data below are the most recent at the time of preparing the July 2023 report. Please go to the dashboard to access the current data.

Measure 1

Rate of young people proceeded against by police

In 2021-22, across the five jurisdictions with available data, the rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people proceeded against by police ranged from 374.4 to 779.6 per 10 000. Since the 2018-19 baseline year, the direction of change for these rates has differed across jurisdictions (figure SE11c.1).

Figure SE11c.1 shows young people proceeded against by police, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people, Rate per 10 000 young people (10-17 years old), by jurisdiction, by year. More details can be found within the text near this image.
Data in figure SE11c.1 (rate)
YearNSWVicQldWASATasACTNTAust
2018-19495.9np870.7np762.0np345.3561.8np
2019-20494.2np820.3np587.4np478.4502.2np
2020-21498.1np782.5np591.7np406.1509.9np
2021-22582.7np779.6np632.1np374.4604.2np

np Not published.  

Measure 2

Proportion of young people proceeded against by police by number of times proceeded against

In 2021-22, across the five jurisdictions with available data, for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people proceeded against by police, the proportion proceeded against once ranged from 38.8 to 50.0 per cent (by comparison, between 16.8 to 21.7 per cent were proceeded against twice, and between 34.8 and 43.4 per cent were proceeded against 3 or more times). For all five jurisdictions, the proportions of young people proceeded against more than once in 2021-22 are higher than the previous year (figure SE11c.2).

Figure SE11c.2 shows Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people (10-17 years old) proceeded against by police, by jurisdiction, by year, by number of proceedings. More details can be found within the text near this image.
Data in figure SE11c.2 (%)
YearDescription5NSWVicQldWASATasACTNTAust
2018-19Proceeded against three or more times39.5np39.5np29.3np30.830.3np
Proceeded against twice18.7np16.9np19.3np20.521.8np
Proceeded against once41.6np43.5np51.0np43.649.2np
2019-20Proceeded against three or more times38.8np40.2np31.9np26.831.7np
Proceeded against twice19.9np17.4np10.6np21.422.4np
Proceeded against once41.4np42.4np56.9np48.246.9np
2020-21Proceeded against three or more times40.2np38.8np32.2np10.236.0np
Proceeded against twice19.4np16.3np16.5np16.316.5np
Proceeded against once40.3np44.9np49.8np63.347.0np
2021-22Proceeded against three or more times43.4np40.2np36.7np34.835.5np
Proceeded against twice17.9np17.3np16.8np21.721.6np
Proceeded against once38.8np42.7np46.7np50.043.3np

np Not published.  

Measure 3

Average (mean) number of times young people are proceeded against by police

In 2021-22, across the five jurisdictions with available data, the average (mean) number of times an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young person was proceeded against by police ranged from 2.6 to 3.6 times. Since the 2018-19 baseline year, the direction of change for this number has fluctuated across jurisdictions (figure SE11c.3).

Figure SE11c.3 shows the average (mean) number of times proceeded against (per person proceeded against), Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people (10-17 years old), by jurisdiction, by year. More details can be found within the text near this image.
Data in figure SE11c.3 (no.)
YearNSWVicQldWASATasACTNTAust
2018-193.7np3.4np2.5np2.72.3np
2019-203.5np3.7np2.8np2.32.5np
2020-213.6np3.4np3.0np1.72.8np
2021-223.6np3.5np3.4np2.62.7np

np Not published.  

Measure 4

Proportion of police proceedings against young people by method of proceeding

In 2021-22, across the three jurisdictions with available data, for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people proceeded against by police, the proportion proceeded against with non-court actions ranged from 25.7 to 46.1 per cent (with the remaining 53.9  to 82.4 per cent proceeded against with court actions). Since the 2018‑19 baseline year, the proportion with non-court action has fluctuated across jurisdictions (figure SE11c.4).

Figure SE11c.4 shows proceedings by police against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people (10-17 years old), by jurisdiction, by year, by method of proceedings. More details can be found within the text near this image.
Data in figure SE11c.4 (%)
YearDescription5NSWVicQldWASATasACTNTAust
2018-19Non-court action46.9np24.2npnpnp20.0npnp
Court action53.1np75.8npnpnp76.0npnp
2019-20Non-court action47.5np27.6npnpnp25.3npnp
Court action52.6np72.4npnpnp80.0npnp
2020-21Non-court action47.0np28.0npnpnp26.8npnp
Court action53.0np72.0npnpnp72.0npnp
2021-22Non-court action46.1np28.0npnpnp25.7npnp
Court action53.9np71.9npnpnp82.4npnp

np Not published.  

Indicator data specifications

Indicator SE11c: Alleged young offenders involved in police proceedings

Related outcome:

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people are not overrepresented in the criminal justice system.

Related target:

By 2031, reduce the rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people (10-17 years) in detention by at least 30 per cent.

Indicator:

Proportion of young alleged offenders (10-17 years) involved in police proceedings including charges and summons, cautions, diversions.

Measure:

There are four measures for this indicator.

Measure 1 is the rate of young people proceeded against by police, defined as:

Numerator — number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 10‑17 years proceeded against by police

Denominator — number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 10-17 years

and is presented as a rate per 10 000 young people.

Measure 2 is the proportion of young people proceeded against by police, by the number of times proceeded against, defined as:

Numerator — number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 10-17 years proceeded against by police, by times proceeded against (one, two, or three or more times)

Denominator — number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 10-17 years proceeded against by police

and is presented as a percentage.

Measure 3 is the average (mean) number of times young people are proceeded against by police, defined as:

Numerator — number of police proceedings against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 10-17 years

Denominator — number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 10‑17 years proceeded against by police

and is presented as a number

Measure 4 is the proportion of police proceedings against young people by method of proceeding, defined as:

Numerator — number of police proceedings against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 10-17 years, by method of proceeding (court/non-court action)

Denominator — number of police proceedings against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 10-17 years

and is presented as a percentage.

Contextual information will be reported on the proportion of offenders for whom Indigenous status is reported as unknown/not stated.

Indicator established:

National Agreement on Closing the Gap July 2020

Latest dashboard update for the indicator:

15 June 2023

Indicator type:

Driver

Interpretation of change:

Measure 1: a low or decreasing rate is desirable.

Measure 2: a low or decreasing proportion is desirable.

Measure 3: a low or decreasing average (mean) number is desirable.

Measure 4: a low or decreasing proportion is desirable.

Data source(s):

(Measures 2, 3, 4 and numerator for Measure 1)

Name: Recorded Crime – Offenders

Frequency: Annual

Documentation (links): https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/crime-and-justice/recorded-crime-offenders

(Denominator for Measure 1)

Name: Estimates and projections for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population

Frequency: Annual (data revised on a five-yearly basis)

Documentation: https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-peoples/estimates-and-projections-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-australians

Data provider:

(Measure 2, 3, 4 and numerator for Measure 1)

Provider name: Australian Bureau of Statistics

Provider area: National Centre for Crime and Justice Statistics

(Denominator for Measure 1)

Provider name: Australian Bureau of Statistics

Provider area: Demography

Baseline year:

2018-19

Latest reporting period:

2021-22

Disaggregations:

State and territory and Australia, by Indigenous status.

Computation:

Measure 1: Numerator divided by Denominator multiplied by 10 000.

Measure 2: Numerator divided by Denominator multiplied by 100.

Measure 3: Numerator divided by Denominator.

Measure 4: Numerator divided by Denominator multiplied by 100.

Counting rules

‘People proceeded against by police’ represents a person aged 10 years or over who is proceeded against and recorded by police for one or more criminal offences. An offender is only counted once during the reference period irrespective of the number of offences committed or the number of separate occasions that police proceeded against that offender.

‘Police proceedings’ represent a count for each separate occasion within the 12 ‑month reference period that police initiate a legal action against an alleged offender.

The number of young people proceeded against and the total number of proceedings cannot be used to derive the average (mean) times proceeded against for offenders. The average (mean) times proceeded against measure is a specific count at the offender level on how many occasions ‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander’ and ‘non-Indigenous’ young offenders came into contact with police during the reference year and this does not match the data held for the count of proceedings for ‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander’ and ‘non-Indigenous’ young offenders. These do not align for a number of reasons; for example a person may:

  • be aged 17 years when first proceeded against but some proceedings occur when they were 18 years and these are excluded from the proceedings count (as scope is 0-17 years)
  • be counted as 'Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander' as an offender but have one or more proceedings coded as 'Non-Indigenous' because all of the offences making up those proceedings have a 'Non-Indigenous' Indigenous status code in that data set
  • have several proceedings that are penalty notices but a principal person method of proceeding of 'Court action'. These notices are included in the 'number of times proceeded against' in the offender count but excluded from the proceedings count.

Court actions by police include the following ABS codes:

  • 110 Charge and bail/remand
  • 120 Charge and summons
  • 190 Other court action, not elsewhere classified

Non-court actions by police include the following ABS codes:

  • 210 Informal caution or informal warning
  • 220 Formal caution or formal warning
  • 230 Conference
  • 240 Counselling (includes drug diversion schemes)
  • 250 Penalty notices
  • 290 Other non-court action, not elsewhere classified

Exclusions (all measures):

People/proceedings with an unknown or not stated Indigenous status (these are reported separately)

Offenders with a penalty notice as their principal method of proceeding.

Data quality considerations:

Data values have been randomly adjusted using perturbation to avoid the release of confidential data. Discrepancies may occur between sums of the component items and totals.

The quality of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander identification varies across jurisdictions. Data are only available by Indigenous status for NSW, Queensland, SA, the ACT and the NT. Based on an ABS assessment, Indigenous status data for other states are not of sufficient quality and/or do not meet ABS standards for national reporting. Due to data quality issues, data are not available for method of police proceeding (i.e. court/non-court proceedings) for SA and the NT.

Caution should be used when comparing Indigenous status data across states and territories or time periods, due to variations in the proportion of offenders with unknown Indigenous status.

Future reporting:

Additional disaggregations required for future reporting:

  • Geographic area (remoteness, other geographic categories where available)
  • Socioeconomic status of the locality
  • Gender
  • Age (10–13 years old, 14–17 years old).

The Productivity Commission acknowledges the Traditional Owners of Country throughout Australia and their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We pay our respects to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures, Country and Elders past and present.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this website may contain images, voices or names of people who have passed away.