New South Wales Department of Juvenile Justice

The New South Wales Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) is a department of the Government of New South Wales with responsibility for the supervision of young offenders on community-based or custodial orders issued by the courts. The department is also responsible for the administration of youth justice conferences.

Structure

Juvenile Justice operates under the terms of the Children (Detention Centres) Act 1987, the Children (Community Service Orders) Act 1987, the Young Offenders Act 1997 and the Children (Interstate Transfer of Offenders) Act 1988.

Responsibilities

In New South Wales, criminal responsibility legally commences at the age of ten. Under criminal law, a child is defined as a person under eighteen years of age.

In some States, the function of juvenile justice resides within human services agencies and is not viewed purely within a criminal justice context. In NSW, the Department of Juvenile Justice is considered both a justice and human services agency.

There are eight Juvenile Justice Centres located throughout the state and one six-bed emergency short-term accommodation unit located at Broken Hill.

Female detainees are held at Juniperina Juvenile Justice Centre. The most troubled boys aged under 16 are held at Reiby Juvenile Justice Centre.

Across the state, the Department also has 18 youth justice conferencing offices and 35 juvenile justice community offices.

See also

• Government of New South Wales
• List of New South Wales government......
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