On the Consistency of Court Dispositions in the Juvenile Criminal Justice System: A Research Note

An analysis of 13,919 cases dealt with by the Children's Court during a two year period showed significant differences between the regional patterns of dispositions made by the courts in respect of comparable male juvenile offenders (Crimes Act). Urban courts presided over by special children's magistrates were more lenient than countrty courts with regular stipendiary magistrates, except for committing greater numbers of offenders for trial in a higher court. Country courts in general tended to be more lenient in respect of selected offences than country courts located in areas of Aboriginal concentration. However, differences were also found between the dispositions of individual urban courts which could not be accounted for by the social and circumstantial factors associated with regional differences.