This body is in the database because of where the discretion sits.

A young person who comes to police attention can be warned, cautioned, referred to a conference, or charged. If charged, they can be bailed by police or held for court. Neither decision involves an application, a fee, a queue or a published timeframe — which is why neither appears in any process map of youth justice, and why this database nearly missed it.

They are still the highest-leverage steps in the system. A caution ends the matter. A charge starts a court process, and a refusal of police bail starts a period in detention that has a national median of five days and does not, in three cases out of five, end in a sentence.

And the exercise of the discretion is measurably uneven. In New South Wales, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people are more likely to be taken to court (64 per cent against 48) and less likely to be cautioned (14 per cent against 28). Research on New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia found Indigenous young people less likely to be diverted in all three, after controlling for age, sex, offence type and prior history.

The Productivity Commission's Report on Government Services 2026 records that data is not yet available for reporting against the diversionary services indicator. See The highest-leverage decision in youth justice is not reported nationally.