BOCSAR study reveals young people with a disability are overrepresented in the youth justice system

Links to report summary:-

• Offending by young people with disability: A NSW linkage study
  
• People with disability and offending in NSW: Results from the National Disability Data Asset pilot
  

Release date: Wednesday 18 January 2023

A new longitudinal study by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR), Offending by young people with disability, identified 13,302 young people with a disability born in NSW from the start of 1997 to the end of 2000 and compared their rates of offending to those of young people without disability.

The study found that most young people with disability (87%) did not offend before the age of 18.

However, young people with disability are overrepresented in the youth justice system. "While young people with a disability make up just 3.5% of all young people in the study group their rate of interaction with the youth justice system is concerning" said BOCSAR Research Director, Dr Suzanne Poynton.

Young people with a disability make up 7.7% of all young people with an offence before the age of 18 and 17.4% of those with an episode in youth detention. 

"Factors such as age of initial engagement with disability-related services, remoteness of residence, and frequency of child protection contact were strongly associated with the likelihood of a young person with disability having criminal justice contact before the age of 18", added Dr Poynton.

Young offenders with disability demonstrated a different offending profile compared with young offenders without disability, having more violent offences (including domestic violence); property offences; sexual assault and related offences; and offences against justice procedures, government security and government operations. 

While the rate of court diversion through police cautioning or youth justice conferencing was similar for young offenders with and without disability, those with disability were more often ineligible to receive a court alternative due to the type of the offence committed.

These research findings point to a clear and immediate need for significant investment in supports for young people with disability, both before and after contact with the criminal justice system, and further expansion of diversion options for this vulnerable group.

About the National Disability Data Asset pilot

These findings come from the Justice Test Case of the National Disability Data Asset pilot. Jointly led by BOCSAR and the Commonwealth Department of Social Services (DSS), the Justice Test Case pilot used State and Commonwealth administrative data collections to identify a cohort of 2.8 million people who received a core disability support and/ or who had contact with the NSW criminal justice system as a victim or as an offender, in NSW over a 10-year period. More information about the National Disability Data Asset pilot can be found here www.ndda.gov.au

For comment contact:
BOCSAR Research Director, Dr Suzanne Poynton
Phone: 0467483784
Email: suzanne.poynton@justice.nsw.gov.au