Children held on remand The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare publication Youth Justice in Australia 2014–15 contains the most recent published data on the number of children held on remand in Victoria. That report uses the term on an average day’ to ‘number mean the average number on any given day over the period examined. The Council has used the same term to be consistent with the data source. For the financial year 2014–15, the number of unsentenced children in detention in Victoria on an average day was 54. This number is the highest across the last five years of available data. The total number of unsentenced children received into detention in Victoria throughout the financial year 2014–15 was 472. Figure 22 shows the number of children on remand in Victoria on an average day for the five financial years, 2010–11 to 2014–15. After a decline from 2010–11, the number of children on remand on an average day between 2011–12 and remained relatively constant (between 36 and 38 children); in 2014–15, however, it increased substantially to 54. Figure 22: Number of unsentenced children in detention in Victoria, on an average day, to 2014–15 Year 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 Number of unsentenced children in 43 37 38 36 54 detention Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. data are consistent with, and demonstrate, the concerns expressed by the Children’s Court and representatives of youth justice advocates discussed at [2.24]–[2.26] in relation to the increase in remand rates of children following the 2013 changes to the Bail Act 1977 (Vic). As discussed, these changes made it an offence to contravene certain conduct conditions of bail or to commit an indictable offence whilst on bail, and applied to both adults and children. may be a range of factors that have contributed to increases in remand of children (including, for example, a lack of appropriate accommodation outside custody). The data presented earlier in this report, however, suggest that the new bail
Children held on remand The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare publication Youth Justice in Australia 2014–15 contains the most recent published data on the number of children held on remand in Victoria. That report uses the term ‘number on an average day’ to mean the average number on any given day over the period examined. The Council has used the same term to be consistent with the data source. For the financial year 2014–15, the number of unsentenced children in detention in Victoria on an average day was 54. This number is the highest across the last five years of available data. The total number of unsentenced children received into detention in Victoria throughout the financial year 2014–15 was 472. Figure 22 shows the number of children on remand in Victoria on an average day for the five financial years, 2010–11 to 2014–15. After a decline from 2010–11, the number of children on remand on an average day between 2011–12 and remained relatively constant (between 36 and 38 children); in 2014–15, however, it increased substantially to 54. Figure 22: Number of unsentenced children in detention in Victoria, on an average day, to 2014–15 Year 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 Number of unsentenced children in detention 43 37 38 36 54 Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. data are consistent with, and demonstrate, the concerns expressed by the Children’s Court and representatives of youth justice advocates discussed at [2.24]–[2.26] in relation to the increase in remand rates of children following the 2013 changes to the Bail Act 1977 (Vic). As discussed, these changes made it an offence to contravene certain conduct conditions of bail or to commit an indictable offence whilst on bail, and applied to both adults and children. may be a range of factors that have contributed to increases in remand of children (including, for example, a lack of appropriate accommodation outside custody). The data presented earlier in this report, however, suggest that the new bail
Sentencing%20Children%20in%20Victoria%20Data%20Update%20Report.docx