Youth offenders allegedly breaching bail on track to double

Youth bail breaches have skyrocketed, prompting the Opposition to slam the figures as a “shameful new record for community safety.”

Youth offenders are allegedly flouting their bail conditions at record levels, with 1745 charges laid for breaching bail terms in the first nine months of this financial year, compared to 1073 for the whole of 2023/24, new courts figures reveal.

At the current rate, the number of ‘breach of bail’ charges for the full 2024/25 year are on track to reach 2327 – more than double the amount laid in the last financial year, which was the highest on record at the time.

Figures provided by the Courts Administration Authority to state parliament’s Budget and Finance Committee showed the 1745 charges related to 366 individual child offenders.

Meanwhile, of the 563 breach of bail charges that were successfully prosecuted against 192 youths between July 1, 2024 and March 31, 2025, only 11 offenders received a penalty of detention.

The remainder were given other penalties including formal warnings (54 per cent), community service orders (four per cent), and obligation agreements, which set out conditions by which they must abide (16 per cent).

Once child was discharged without any penalty.

A further 593 charges, involving 162 youths, are still proceeding through the court.

The Opposition, which said there were 857 breach of bail charges against youths during its last year of government in 2021/22, has described the latest figures as a “shameful new record for community safety”.

Opposition spokesman Jack Batty said the government was “happy for young offenders to do the crime but not the time”. Picture: Morgan Sette

Opposition spokesman Jack Batty said the government was “happy for young offenders to do the crime but not the time”.

“Peter Malinauskas may as well be Mr Monopoly at the rate young offenders are receiving get out of jail free cards,” he said.

“How many more victims of youth crime does there need to be until Labor is prepared to take real action?”

Attorney-General Kyam Maher said the government had introduced and passed more than 30 separate pieces of legislation during this term of government to combat ever-evolving criminal behaviour.

“The Government knows from its ongoing conversations with SAPOL that there is a small cohort of young offenders responsible for a greater proportion of youth offending in SA,” he said.

“It is this cohort that needs to be subject to stricter legal responses to ensure the safety of our community and to disrupt the cycle of behaviour that often continues into adult offending.”

The government last month released its Young Offender Plan, which aimed to toughen bail laws for serious repeat young offenders, increase penalties for those with extensive criminal histories and give police more power to combat youth street gangs.

It will also invest $3 million into programs to help young offenders break the cycle of reoffending.

“This is in contrast to Vincent Tarzia’s Liberals who did precious little when he was police minister only a few years ago,” Mr Maher said.

The new courts figures come after The Advertiser last week revealed a 14-year-old child who amassed 131 criminal charges, including multiple assaults and home invasions, in 2023/24, allegedly breached their bail conditions or bond obligations 34 times during that period.

In January the newspaper reported that youth crime rates in SA had skyrocketed 140 per cent in the past six years.

Freedom of Information documents showed the number of young offenders, aged 10 to 17 years, had risen from 6938 in 2018-19 to 16,710 in 2023-24.