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• On any given day in 2010/2011, there were about 14,800 youth (aged 12 to 17 at the time of the offence) in Canada's correctional system (excluding Quebec and youth under community supervision in Nova Scotia). The majority (90%) of youth were under community supervision while 10% were in custody.

• The rate of youth in the correctional system, on any given day, has been generally declining in recent years. At 79 per 10,000 youth in 2010/2011, the rate was 6% lower than the previous year and 12% lower than five years earlier.

• British Columbia reported the lowest rate of youth in the correctional system on any given day in 2010/2011, at less than half the overall average. In contrast, the highest rates were in the Northwest Territories and Manitoba.

• There were about 1,500 youth in custody on any given day in 2010/2011, of which 54% were held in remand and 44% were in sentenced custody. At 8 per 10,000 youth, the youth incarceration rate fell 5% between 2009/2010 and 2010/2011, the third consecutive annual decline.

• The largest drop in the youth incarceration rate was reported in Newfoundland and Labrador, down 58% between 2005/2006 and 2010/2011. In contrast, the rate in Manitoba rose 38% over the same period.

• In 2010/2011, youth in remand outnumbered those in sentenced custody for the fourth year in a row. Manitoba had the highest rate of remand, at almost 5 times the overall rate.

• Crimes committed by youth admitted to sentenced custody are more often non-violent. More specifically, 61% of admissions involved property offences, other Criminal Code offences, and other federal or provincial statute offences, while 39% involved violent offences.

• Aboriginal youth tend to be over-represented in correctional services. Among the reporting jurisdictions in 2010/2011, Aboriginal youth accounted for 26% of the youth admitted to the correctional system yet represented 6% of the general youth population.

• There were just over 13,300 youth serving a community supervision sentence on any given day in 2010/2011, most (91%) of whom were on probation. The median number of days youth were sentenced to probation was highest in Yukon at 420 days and in the Northwest Territories at 382 days.