Locked Up Before Sentence: Youth Justice in Queensland
Queensland locks up young people at nearly twice the national rate, and nearly nine in ten of them have not been sentenced. This 'Evidence Brief' traces every figure to its official source and shows the calculation behind it.
Download the evidence brief (PDF, 19 pages) Download the Senate committee report (PDF, 203 pages)
On an average night in 2024–25, about 250 young people who had not been sentenced slept in Queensland youth detention. Queensland holds four in ten of all the young people detained in Australia on an average day, more than New South Wales and Victoria combined. First Nations young people make up seven in ten of those detained, at 26 times the rate of other young Queenslanders.
Queensland has increased youth detention even as youth offending has fallen. Police records put the 2024–25 youth offender rate at the lowest point in eleven years, 36.8% below 2014–15. Over roughly the same period, Queensland’s detention rate climbed from 3.9 to 5.0 per 10,000 young people, as the national rate fell.
On 18 September 2026 the Senate’s Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee tabled its report on Australia’s youth justice and incarceration system. No member of the cross-party committee dissented from the evidence. Its four recommendations point in the right direction, yet none of them binds Queensland, which sets its own bail and remand laws.
This evidence brief sets the Queensland figures beside the Senate’s recommendations. It opens with an executive summary and an assessment of each recommendation, names the community-controlled organisations to back and how to reach them, and closes with the full fact sheet: every figure, the official table it comes from, the arithmetic behind it, and its limitations.
What the Evidence Shows
5.0 against 2.7
Per 10,000Queensland’s youth detention rate against the national rate: nearly twice as high.
Source Productivity Commission, Report on Government Services 2026, Table 17A.1.
88%
Average dayShare of young people in Queensland detention who have not been sentenced: 252 of 285 a day. The national figure is 80%.
Source Childrens Court of Queensland, Annual Report 2024–25, Figure 18; Senate committee report, paragraph 3.33.
112
2024–25Incidents of self-harm or attempted suicide in custody that needed treatment, involving about 48 young people.
Source Productivity Commission, Report on Government Services 2026, Table 17A.19.
$2,714 against $493
Per dayWhat Queensland spends to hold one young person in detention for a day, against the cost of a day of community supervision.
Source Productivity Commission, Report on Government Services 2026, Tables 17A.20 and 17A.21.
The Senate’s 2026 Report
The committee asked the Attorney-General to introduce national minimum standards for youth justice with state and territory counterparts; to establish a cross-portfolio National Child and Community Safety Taskforce; to run an education campaign giving evidence-based information on youth crime and on alternatives to incarceration; and to refer the factors behind youth incarceration to a further Senate inquiry.
This brief weighs each recommendation, and the additional recommendations of individual senators, against Queensland’s situation. The committee’s report is reproduced unaltered under its Creative Commons licence (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).
Download the Senate committee report (PDF, 203 pages) Open the inquiry on the Parliament of Australia website
Whom to Back
Minjerribah Moorgumpin Elders-in-Council
MinjerribahLeads the Commonwealth-funded Quandamooka justice reinvestment initiative, with social and emotional wellbeing support for young people and their families.
Contact 07 3409 9723, admin@mmeic.org
Murri Watch
BrisbaneVisits young people held in police watch houses, and is building a youth hub for young First Nations people experiencing homelessness.
Contact 1300 M WATCH (1300 692 824)
Runs Yur’iinkin, an intensive bail initiative for young people at risk of entering or already in the youth justice system.
Contact (07) 3156 4800, reception@kurbingui.org.au
ATSILS Queensland
StatewideRepresents young people charged with offences and supports young people in detention before and after release.
Contact (07) 3025 3888, info@atsils.org.au
QATSICPP
Youth Justice PeakQueensland’s Youth Justice Peak, representing 38 community-controlled organisations. Its member directory finds the organisation nearest you.
Contact communications@qatsicpp.com.au
The community-controlled national body for communities working in justice reinvestment, governed by a wholly Aboriginal board.
The Sources Behind the Figures
Annual Report 2024–25: unsentenced detention, remand stays, and First Nations detention rates.
Productivity Commission
AnnualReport on Government Services 2026, Section 17: detention by state, self-harm in custody, returns to supervision, and costs.
Annual Report 2024–25: children held in police watch houses, as counted by the Public Guardian.
Crime report, Queensland, 2024–25: youth and adult offender rates from police records.
Youth justice in Australia 2024–25: unsentenced detention, including detention before a first court appearance.
Australia’s Youth Justice and Incarceration System: recommendations, national remand data, and the Queensland Police Service’s watch-house finding.