← Youth Justice Reports
National Comparison
Australian Youth Justice: State by State
How does each state and territory perform on youth detention, costs, Indigenous overrepresentation, and Closing the Gap targets? All data from the same period (2023-24) for direct comparison.
—
Children in detention daily
x
Indigenous overrepresentation
$—
Cost per day (detention)
—%
Unsentenced (remand)
Detention rate per 10,000 young people
First Nations overrepresentation ratio
Cost per day in detention
Closing the Gap — Indigenous detention rate trend
Full Comparison
AIHW Youth Justice 2023-24 & ROGS 2026. Click a state to see its tracker.
| Metric | QLD | NSW | VIC | WA | SA | NT | TAS | ACT | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Detention rate (per 10K) | 5.1 | 3.6 | 1.4 | 4.2 | 2.8 | 17 | 3 | 2.2 | 3.4 |
| Avg daily detention | 317 | 200 | 120 | 145 | 80 | 62 | 15 | 12 | 950 |
| Indigenous overrepresentation | 26x | 22x | 14x | 24x | 20x | 5x | — | — | 17x |
| First Nations rate (per 10K) | 42 | 32 | 18 | 38 | 26 | 25 | — | — | 26.1 |
| Avg days in detention | 104 | 55 | 37 | 68 | 42 | 45 | — | — | 62 |
| Cost per day (detention) | $2,162 | $3,200 | $7,123 | $2,573 | $2,890 | $4,800 | $3,400 | $5,200 | $3,635 |
| % unsentenced (remand) | 86% | 72% | 65% | 78% | 68% | 80% | 70% | 74% | 75% |
| 5-year trend | +53% | +86% | +37% | -10% | -8% | 0% | — | — | +19% |
| Recidivism (12 months) | 71.5% | 39.9% | 56.6% | 53.4% | 42.7% | — | 63.9% | 45.8% | 56.7% |
| Deaths in custody | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Cost per day (community) | $493.17 | $367.68 | $600.58 | $217.55 | $101.01 | $516.19 | $255.89 | $269.73 | $423.56 |
Closing the Gap: Target 11 by State
First Nations detention rate per 10,000 (ages 10-17). Target: 30% reduction by 2031.
QLDWORSENING (45%)
2019-20
29
2020-21
24
2021-22
32
2022-23
38
2023-24
42
NSWWORSENING (45%)
2019-20
22
2020-21
18
2021-22
26
2022-23
30
2023-24
32
VICWORSENING (29%)
2019-20
14
2020-21
11
2021-22
15
2022-23
17
2023-24
18
WAIMPROVING (-10%)
2019-20
42
2020-21
35
2021-22
37
2022-23
39
2023-24
38
NTIMPROVING (-11%)
2019-20
28
2020-21
22
2021-22
24
2022-23
26
2023-24
25
State Scorecards
Each state ranked on key metrics. Rank 1 = worst performing.
QLD#2
Rate5.1/10K
Daily317
Overrep.26x
Cost/day$2,162
NSW#4
Rate3.6/10K
Daily200
Overrep.22x
Cost/day$3,200
VIC#8
Rate1.4/10K
Daily120
Overrep.14x
Cost/day$7,123
WA#3
Rate4.2/10K
Daily145
Overrep.24x
Cost/day$2,573
SA#6
Rate2.8/10K
Daily80
Overrep.20x
Cost/day$2,890
NT#1
Rate17/10K
Daily62
Overrep.5x
Cost/day$4,800
TAS#5
Rate3/10K
Daily15
Overrep.—
Cost/day$3,400
ACT#7
Rate2.2/10K
Daily12
Overrep.—
Cost/day$5,200
Data from CivicGraph outcomes_metrics database. Sources: AIHW Youth Justice in Australia 2023-24, ROGS 2026 Table 17A, Closing the Gap Dashboard. All metrics for 2023-24 financial year unless noted.