Northern Ireland Youth Justice Agency Annual Workload Statistics 2024-25 published today

The Department of Justice (DoJ) today published the Research and Statistics Bulletin Northern Ireland Youth Justice Agency Annual Workload Statistics 2024/25.

This annual Official Statistics publication provides workload statistics for the last five financial years for both Youth Justice Services (YJS) and Custodial Services (Woodlands Juvenile Justice Centre, JJC) within the Youth Justice Agency (YJA). Area statistics in this report are produced in terms of the 11 Local Government Districts. This ensures that

consistent data can be produced on an annual basis for comparison purposes. This will also facilitate comparison with other data sources such as PSNI recorded crime information or NI population data. The publication continues to provide descriptive analysis of trends on a range of demographics, including some Section 75 characteristics and care information.  A 2024/25 breakdown of YJA PSNI referral schemes by gender and age is also included. The main findings of this report are presented below.

• During 2024/25, there was a total of 1,078 YJA PSNI Referral Schemes for 1,045 children; males accounted for 67.6% of these schemes.
• The highest number of CRN and Vaping schemes (see note below) was for children aged 15 (154) while those aged 14 accounted for the highest number of Sexting Schemes (78).
• There were 1,402 YJA referrals to the YJS in 2024/25, a decrease of 8.1% from 2023/24 (1,525).
• Diversionary referrals (53.5%; 750) accounted for the largest proportion of all YJA referrals in 2024/25, followed by Court Ordered (24.1%; 338) and Earlier Stage Diversions (13.3%; 187).
• The number of individuals referred to YJS in 2024/25 (768) decreased by 5.1% from the previous year (809).
• The total number of individuals in custody decreased by 8.7% (104, 2023/24; 95, 2024/25).
• As in previous years males accounted for the majority of YJA referrals (66.3%), and of children receiving YJA referrals (73.7%) and in custody (71.6%).
• During 2024/25, 61.7% of YJA referrals and 62.8% of individuals receiving YJA referrals were aged 15 and over; the corresponding figure for children in custody was 81.1%.
• In 2024/25, 37.9% of children in custody were Catholic; 31.6% were Protestant.
• Of the children in custody during 2024/25, 48.4% were in care (38.9% were subject to a care order; 9.5% were voluntary accommodated).
• In terms of local government district, Belfast had the highest number of YJA referrals (296) and the highest number of children receiving YJA referrals (191). Belfast had the highest number of admissions to custody (45) and Belfast also the highest number of children in custody (25). Regarding children in custody, Derry City and Strabane had the highest rate per 1,000 at 0.8.
• In 2024/25, there was a total of 2,804 days of custody provided by the JJC, 20.7% lower than in 2023/24 (3,534) and 28.0% lower than in 2020/21 (3,896). Of these days 6.4% were for PACE, 80.2% for remand and 13.4% for sentence.
• The total number of admissions to the JJC was 15.9% lower in 2024/25 (180) than in 2023/24 (214). Overall movements within the JJC, that is new admissions plus internal changes of status, such as PACE to Remand, was 12.0% lower in 2024/25 (265) than in the previous year (301).
• Of the 1,108 statutory referrals during 2024/25, the highest proportion involved violence against the person (44.7%; 495).