Title page
Contents
Abstract 1
Children charged with early offending: A high-risk and vulnerable group 2
Methodology 4
Results 6
Discussion 17
References 19
Table 1. Number and proportion of children aged 10 to 13 years under youth justice (YJ) supervision during the year by age and jurisdiction, 2021-22 4
Table 2. Demographic characteristics of study sample 6
Table 3. Prior police charges and police incidents 9
Table 4. Intervention order types for children with intervention orders at time of index matter 10
Table 5. Manner of police proceeding, index matter, children aged 10 to 13 years 11
Table 6. Children's Court outcomes, court sample and all children in the study sample 12
Table 7. Court outcomes by age in years at index matter, Children's Court sample 13
Table 8. Time to court outcomes, Children's Court sample 13
Table 9. Police and remand contact within 24 months of index matter 15
Table 10. Children's Court outcomes (most serious court outcome) within 24 months of index matter 16
Figure 1. Principal offence of acts intended to cause injury by age, 2012-13 to 2021-22 (rate per 100,000 in relevant age group) 3
Figure 2. Demographic characteristics of study sample by age in years 7
Figure 3. Index offence type (most serious charge), 2017 7
Figure 4. Index offence type (most serious charge) by age in years 8
Figure 5. Index offence type (most serious charge) by age in years 8
Figure 6. Prior intervention orders by age in years at index matter 11
Figure 7. Police and Children's Court outcomes for index matter, 10-13-year-old children, 2017 14