Youth Treatment Intervention Court
Information for Young People

Are you a young person with criminal matters before the court?
Are you interested in obtaining support for your mental health or drug use?
The Youth Treatment Intervention Court (YTIC) could help you.

This court is for young people who have problems with

  • Mental health
  • Substance use
  • Acquired brain injury
  • Learning difficulties

This program is voluntary court, which means you don’t have to participate if you don’t want to.
If you do start the program and decide you don’t want to continue, you can withdraw at any time and your matters will be returned to the general list for sentencing. If you complete the program your progress will be taken into account by the Judge when you’re sentence. If you try the program and withdraw before completion, you won’t be penalised for that. That means you have nothing to lose by participating and a lot to gain.

Ask your lawyer, your Youth Justice case manager, or the Judge to refer you to the Youth Treatment Intervention Court.

You will meet with a Case Manager from the YTIC who will talk to you about your offending and the problems you want help with. If you’re eligible for the program a treatment plan will be prepared. This plan will recommend support that will help you address the problems connected to your offending. If you’re accepted a YTIC case manager will support you while you’re on the program. You will also need to plead guilty to the most serious offences or admit the objective elements. Talk to your lawyer about what this means for your situation.

The program lasts for approximately 6 months. During that time, you will appear in Court regularly to review your progress. A case manager will work with you to help you understand your treatment plan and help you get the most out of it. If drugs are a problem for you, weekly drug testing may be required as part of your bail conditions.

At the end of the program, the Judge or magistrate will consider your progress when sentencing your matters. The better you do, the better your outcome will be. But if you don’t do well or decide not to finish the program that won’t be a disadvantage in sentencing.

For more information please contact the Youth Treatment Intervention Court on 8204 8615