Mental Health Disorders and Adverse Childhood Experiences Associated with Youth Offending in Australia

Strategic Insights -

Research on mental health disorders and adverse childhood experiences has shown that these factors are significant predictors of youth offending in Australia. A study published in the International Journal of Law and Psychiatry found that justice-involved youth aged 14 to 17 with custody-supervised status had a prevalence of 69.6% for adverse childhood experiences, 33.9% for mental health disorders, and 26.5% for the co-occurrence of both. Additionally, the study found that age, physical neglect, substance use disorders, and personality disorders demonstrated time-varying effects on reoffending risk.

Key Takeaways:

  • The median age at first conviction for custody-supervised youth was 15 years, and 16 years for community-supervised youth.
  • The prevalence of adverse childhood experiences, mental health disorders, and their co-occurrence was significantly higher among custody-supervised youth compared to community-supervised youth.
  • Recurrent offences occurred in 64.8% of custody-supervised youth and 52.1% of community-supervised youth.
  • Age, physical neglect, substance use disorders, and personality disorders demonstrated time-varying effects on reoffending risk.
  • Regular mental health assessments and improved access to interventions for justice-involved youth are necessary to reduce recurrent offending and enhance public safety.
  • Mental health service engagement was associated with reduced reoffending risk.
  • The study followed 1556 justice-involved youth in New South Wales, Australia, from 1994 to 2022.
  • The Prentice, Williams, and Peterson Gap Time model with time-varying effects was used to identify factors associated with accelerated reoffending.
  • The study found that physical abuse, parental death, anxiety disorders, mood disorders, and previous incarceration were additional risk factors for reoffending.

Statistics:

  • 25.6% of justice-involved youth had two or more mental health disorders.
  • 14.8% of community-supervised youth had previous incarceration.
  • The study found that 26.5% of custody-supervised youth had co-occurrence of mental health disorders and adverse childhood experiences.
  • The median length of time between first and second offence was 18.1 months.

Sources:

  • Mental health disorders, adverse childhood experiences and accelerated reoffending among justice-involved youth in Australia: A longitudinal recurrent event analysis. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 2025;101:102099.
  • Emaediong I. Akpanekpo et al. "Mental health disorders, adverse childhood experiences and accelerated reoffending among justice-involved youth in Australia: A longitudinal recurrent event analysis." International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 2025;101:102099.