Queensland

Age of criminal responsibility:

10 is the minimum age of criminal responsibility in Queensland.

The Criminal Code 1899 - Section 29, says that: 

(1) A person under the age of 10 years is not criminally responsible for any act or omission.

(2) A person under the age of 14 years is not criminally responsible for an act or omission, unless it is proved that at the time of doing the act or making the omission the person had capacity to know that the person ought not to do the act or make the omission.

https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/qld/consol_act/cc189994/s29.html#:~:text=(1)%20A%20person%20under%20the,for%20any%20act%20or%20omission

Child incarceration rate: On an average day in 2022–23, in Queensland 5 per 10,000 children were in detention https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/youth-justice/youth-justice-in-australia-annual-report-2022-23/contents/fact-sheets/queensland

Number of children incarcerated:

317 per day in Queensland currently https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/youth-justice/youth-detention-population-in-australia-2024/contents/summary/the-number-of-young-people-in-detention

In the 2022/23 (most recent figures, 884 were incarcerated in that financial year, 703 males and 181 females; https://www.qgso.qld.gov.au/issues/7876/justice-report-qld-2022-23.pdf

Recidivism rate: In 2023 the percentage of young people who reoffended within 12 months following release from Queensland youth detention centres was between 84 per cent and 96 per cent. https://www.qfcc.qld.gov.au/sites/default/files/2024-06/Exiting%20youth%20detention%20report%20June%202024.pd

Recidivism rates are an inpriscise statistic due to inconsistencies of measuring data.

Detention centres (capacity):

1. Brisbane Youth Detention Centre 162,

2. Cleveland Youth Detention Centre 112

3. West Moreton Youth Detention Centre 32

   https://www.youthjustice.qld.gov.au/parents-carers/youth-detention/about

Overall detention centre capacity:

306

Utilisation of detention centres: 99.6% (2023-2024) https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pc.gov.au%2Fongoing%2Freport-on-government-services%2F2025%2Fcommunity-services%2Fyouth-justice%2Frogs-2025-partf-section17-youth-justice-data-tables.xlsx&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK

Diversion pathways:

Transition to Success, Restorative Justice Conferencing, Co-Responder https://www.youthjustice.qld.gov.au/our-department/research-evaluations/evaluations/cyrd

Links to Institutional Publications:

Department of Youth Justice and Victim Support

https://www.youthjustice.qld.gov.au/our-department/publications-reports

Queensland Youth Court Annual Report 2022-2023 https://www.courts.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/786466/cc-ar-2022-2023.pdf