Recidivism in Australia : findings and future research - Australian ...

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Recidivism in Australia: findings and future research
Summary and comparative analysis
As there is little research which prospectively examines the recontact of juvenile detainees
with the criminal justice system, it is difficult to estimate with confidence the recidivism
rates for juvenile detainees. Despite this, the available evidence suggests:
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for approximately half of all juveniles in detention across Australia, the current period
of detention is not their first
more than half of the juveniles released from detention will be reconvicted within
at least six months
nearly eight in every ten juveniles released from detention will, within seven years,
be subject to supervision – community or custodial – by a corrective services agency
as an adult – and almost half will be imprisoned.
Not only are there few studies of the recidivism of juvenile detainees, the analysis and
methodology of those that have been conducted differ substantially. The self-reported
studies are retrospectively and rely on the capacity and willingness of juvenile detainees
to self-report their offending and incarceration histories. The prospective analyses
of Putnins (2003), the Victorian Department of Human Services (2001) and Buckman,
Livingstone & Lynch (2003) measured recidivism using significantly different data sources
in different jurisdictions and over significantly different observation periods.
Juvenile offender recidivism
The majority of recidivism research in Australia has been conducted with juvenile offenders.
However, like studies within the adult offender population, these vary considerably in the
methods used to select a sample of juvenile offenders. The key findings from a selected
sample of research from the Australian literature are summarised, highlighting similarities
and differences.