Reintegration and rising youth remans: evidence, issues and challenges

Across Australia, the number and rate of children and young people in unsentenced detention or ‘on remand’ is sharply rising (AIHW, 2019). On an average day in Australia in 2017-18, around 992 young people were in youth justice detention, of which 60% were on remand (AIHW, 2019). Nationally, over the four-years from June 2014 until June 2018, the rate of young people on remand increased from 1.7 per 10,000 to 2.4 per 10,000 (AIHW, 2019). Importantly, several key subgroups of children and young people are overrepresented in the remand population, including First Nations children, girls and young women, and ‘crossover’ children who also experience child protection contact (AIHW, 2019; Richards & Renshaw, 2013). National data also indicate that the rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people on remand increased from 2014-18, despite decreases being observed in the rate of First Nations children in sentenced detention during this same period (AIHW, 2019). What do these increasing numbers and rates in the youth remand population mean for reintegration? How is remand factored into the overarching case management frameworks or central organising processes of youth justice services in Australia? This presentation examines these key questions, drawing on emerging findings from a current study into youth bail and remand in Victoria, and considers contemporary evidence, issues and challenges of remand and reintegration.