Media Release
Embargoed until 00:01 a.m. (AEST) Tuesday 30 June 2026
The Sentencing Advisory Council has today released a new report examining the effect of laws introduced in 2018 that classified certain crimes as either category A or category B serious youth offences. The report finds that in the 6.5 years to 30 June 2024, there was just over one case a week in which a child or young person aged 16 to 20 was sentenced for one of those offences.
What are category A and B serious youth offences?
The 2018 legislation classified 15 serious crimes as either category A or B serious youth offences. For an offence to be classified this way, the offender had to have been sentenced before turning 21.
For category A serious youth offences committed by a 16- or 17-year-old, cases generally had to be transferred from the Children’s Court to an adult court unless there were substantial and compelling reasons. If the case was heard in an adult court, the court had to sentence the offender to adult imprisonment, rather than detention in a youth justice centre, unless there were exceptional circumstances.
For category B serious youth offences committed by a 16- or 17-year-old, the Children’s Court was required to hear the case itself unless there were exceptional circumstances requiring transfer to an adult court. If the case was heard in an adult court and the offender had a prior conviction for a category A or B offence, the court was required to impose adult imprisonment, rather than a youth justice centre order, unless there were exceptional circumstances.
Some category A offences were homicide offences, which even before the reforms were required to be heard in adult courts. Other category A and B offences included aggravated home invasion, home invasion, aggravated carjacking, carjacking, intentionally or recklessly causing serious injury in circumstances of gross violence, rape and various terrorism offences (there were no relevant terrorism offences committed by people aged 16 to 20 in the 6.5 years).
How many category A and B serious youth offences were sentenced?
In the nearly 6.5 years from February 2018 (when the new laws came into effect) to 30 June 2024, there were 489 category A or B serious youth offences sentenced in 418 cases. A single case can involve more than one offence.
Most of those cases were sentenced in the Children’s Court, rather than an adult court (290 cases, or 69%). This was for one of two reasons. First, the offence was a category B serious youth offence – such as home invasion, carjacking and rape – and there was a presumption that the case would stay in the Children’s Court. Or second, it was a category A serious youth offence but the court found the circumstances were substantial and compelling enough to keep the case in the Children’s Court.
There were only two cases where an offender was sentenced for a category B offence after having been sentenced previously for a category A or B offence, and both cases received imprisonment.
Which category A and B serious youth offences were most common?
Across all courts, the most common category A and B serious youth offences sentenced were:
- home invasion (150 charges, or 33%)
- aggravated carjacking (108 charges, or 22%)
- carjacking (73 charges, or 15%).
How old were offenders when they committed category A or B serious youth offences?
At the time of their offending, offenders who committed category A or B serious youth offences were:
- 16 years old (38%, or 188 of the 489 charges)
- 17 years old (37%, or 187 charges)
- 18 years old (14%, or 67 charges)
- 19 years old (8%, or 40 charges)
- 20 years old (1%, or 7 charges).
What was the gender profile of offenders who committed category A and B serious youth offences?
In the 418 cases, 384 offenders were male (92%) and the remainder were female (8%). No female offenders were sentenced for murder, manslaughter, rape, or intentionally or recklessly causing serious injury in circumstances of gross violence.
How were category A and B serious youth offences sentenced?
In the Children’s Court, the most common sentence imposed was a youth attendance order or a youth supervision order (35% of charges), followed by detention in a youth justice centre (32% of charges).
In the adult courts, 97% of charges resulted in a custodial sentence, either an adult term of imprisonment (58% of charges) or a youth justice centre order (39%).
Subsequent reforms
In early 2026, new legislation came into effect that has significantly changed how category A and B classification operates. Many of the cases that could previously have been sentenced in the Children’s Court must now be sentenced in an adult court. This report does not examine the new reforms. It will, though, provide a useful baseline against which to examine the effects of those new reforms.
Quotes attributable to Sentencing Advisory Council Director Stan Winford
‘This is the first report to examine the effect of the 2018 reforms about how the justice system responds to serious crimes committed by children and young people.’
‘The data in the report highlights two important points. The first is the relatively small number of cases in which children and young people in Victoria were sentenced for these serious crimes, at just over one case a week in the 6.5 years to mid-2024. The second is how many of these children and young people have a history of trauma and disadvantage. This is reflected, in part, in the number of cases where courts found substantial and compelling reasons to retain jurisdiction of cases with category A offences, and the number of cases where courts found exceptional circumstances to impose youth justice centre orders for category A offences.’
The report, Category A and B Serious Youth Offences Committed by Children and Young People, will be available for download on the Council’s website at www.sentencingcouncil.vic.gov.au on the morning of 30 June 2026.
About the Sentencing Advisory Council: the Council is an independent statutory body established in 2004. It has a number of legislative functions, including conducting research on sentencing, consulting on sentencing matters, publishing sentencing statistics, and advising the Attorney-General on sentencing matters.
