The purpose of this research brief is to provide insight into youth offenders to support the development of effective responses to youth crime and outline some of the reasons why young people are treated differently to adults by the criminal justice system. The brief begins by showing some of the differences between youth and adult offending patterns using Queensland Police Service (QPS) data, before describing some of the biological and social factors that can contribute to offending behaviour among youths. Information on evidence-based responses to youth offending is further set out.
