Sentencing Outcomes in the Children's Court by Number

This graph shows the number of people sentenced in the Children’s Court by the sentence type imposed over ten years.

Figure: Sentencing outcomes in the Children’s Court, 1999-00 to 2008-09, by number

From 1999-00 to 2008-09, the number of people sentenced in the Children’s Court ranged from 4,528 (in 1999-00) to 11,214 (in 2006-07). For the 6,986 people sentenced in the Children’s Court in 2008-09, the following sentences were imposed:

• 209 people (3%) were sentenced to detention in a youth training, residential or justice centre
• 447 people (6%) were sentenced to a youth attendance order or youth supervision order
• 984 people (13%) were sentenced to probation
• 2,349 people (32%) were fined
• 1,963 people (27%) were sentenced to a good behavior bond
• 674 people (9%) were sentenced to an undertaking (accountable or unaccountable)
• 665 people (9%) were discharged or dismissed (with or without conviction).

From 1999-00 to 2005-06, sentencing trends in the Children’s Court remained largely stable. Then in 2006-07 there was a dramatic change in the number of fines, with the number of people fined jumping from 2,393 people in 2005-06 to 7,148 people in 2006-07. This declined to 2,349 in 2008-09.

Explanatory Notes

The increase in the number of defendants sentenced in the Children's Court in 2006-07 was due to two main reasons, both relating to the increase in age jurisdiction of the Children's Court from young people aged from 10 to 16 years to those aged from 10 to 17, which occurred on 1 July 2005. Firstly, a backlog of infringement matters from the Department of Infrastructure was processed in the Children's Court in 2006-07.  The matters related to fare evasion and other public transport related offences among 17 year olds who, prior to the age increase, were processed in the adult PERIN (Penalty Enforcement by Registration of Infringement Notice) system. Secondly, the full impact of the age increase more generally was not felt until 2006-07.

The number of defendants sentenced in the Children’s Court decreased from 2006-07 to 2008-09, almost returning to the levels seen before the jurisdictional change.

Source

Courts Statistical Services, Department of Justice (Victoria). Unpublished data.

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