Section 22C: the tougher bail test for 14 to 18 year olds in NSW, and what the October 2026 sunset date actually means
Most parents assume that a child charged with an offence goes home. That assumption is broadly right in NSW – except for one narrow group of young people, where Parliament deliberately reversed the ordinary approach. If your child is aged between 14 and 18, has been charged with a serious break and enter or motor vehicle theft offence, and was already on bail for a similar offence when it happened, the ordinary bail test does not apply to them.
The provision is section 22C of the Bail Act 2013, and it is the single most consequential piece of youth bail law in NSW. It was introduced as a temporary measure. It has since been extended. And it currently carries a sunset date of 1 October 2026 – which raises real questions for families with matters running through this year.
What section 22C requires
The ordinary bail framework asks whether an accused presents an unacceptable risk that cannot be addressed by conditions. Section 22C imposes an additional test on top of that for a defined group.
When the laws passed Parliament in March 2024), the government described the change in these terms: a bail authority – police, a magistrate or a judge – must have a high degree of confidence that the young person will not commit a further serious indictable offence while on bail before bail can be granted.
The scope is deliberately narrow. As DCJ set out at the time), the additional test applies to young people between 14 and 18 charged with committing certain serious break and enter offences or motor vehicle theft offences while already on bail for a similar offence. The government explained that it had approached the change cautiously given the potentially serious consequences for young people and in particular for Aboriginal young people, which is why it was time-limited and confined to those already alleged to have offended while on bail.
The phrase to focus on is high degree of confidence. That is a materially higher bar than the ordinary unacceptable risk assessment, and it is the reason so many of these applications fail at the police station and at the first mention.
The performance crime offence that came with it
The same package created a performance crime offence in the Crimes Act 1900, imposing an additional penalty of two years imprisonment for people who commit motor vehicle theft or break and enter offences and then share material advertising their involvement.
This is the post and boast provision, and it matters enormously in practice. Young people film everything. A video posted to a private story, sent in a group chat or uploaded and deleted within hours will still be recovered, and it does two things at once: it supplies proof of the substantive offence, and it adds a separate penalty on top. It also makes a bail application dramatically harder, because footage of the conduct is exactly the material a prosecutor will put in front of a magistrate on the question of risk. The same dynamic operates in car culture prosecutions, as we set out in our article on how police use social media footage in street racing and burnout matters.
What the numbers show
The government has pointed to enforcement activity, noting that NSW Police Operation Regional Mongoose targeting property-related crime had charged 827 alleged offenders, more than half of them aged under 18), and describing section 22C as a tough test that needs to be tough.
The custody data tells the other half of the story. BOCSAR reports that in March 2026, 175 young people in detention – 79.6 per cent – were awaiting the outcome of their court matters rather than serving a sentence, with Aboriginal young people continuing to be significantly overrepresented. Over the same period the adult prison population reached its highest number on record, driven largely by remand.
BOCSAR’s youth crime data shows youth crime rates falling in Regional NSW while remaining higher there than in Greater Sydney. Critics of the reforms, including the Justice Reform Initiative, have argued that the resulting rise in youth remand was predictable and that most children in custody have not been found guilty of anything. Whatever view you take of the policy, the practical consequence for a family is the same: for this specific group, bail refusal is a live and frequent outcome.
The sunset date, and why it does not mean what people hope
Section 22C was introduced as a temporary measure with a 12 month sunset. It was extended, and the current sunset date is 1 October 2026.
Families sometimes read that as a finish line – wait it out and the problem disappears. That is not how it works. A sunset date removes the additional test prospectively; it does not retrospectively undo a bail refusal, and it does not release a young person already on remand. Nor is there any guarantee the date will not be extended again, as it has been before.
What the date does mean is that timing is a legitimate strategic consideration this year. If a matter can be listed, resolved or brought to hearing within a particular window, that may materially change the framework applying to any fresh bail application. That is a conversation to have with a lawyer now rather than in September.
What actually improves a young person’s prospects
Because the test asks about confidence in future conduct, the application has to be built around removing the opportunity and the risk rather than arguing about the strength of the Crown case.
The things that carry weight are concrete. A stable and supervised address, with the adult who will provide that supervision present in court and willing to give evidence. A place in a bail support or intensive supervision program, secured in advance rather than proposed in principle. Enrolment in school, TAFE or work, confirmed in writing. Curfew and non-association conditions proposed by the defence rather than imposed by the court. Electronic monitoring where appropriate. Treatment or counselling already arranged for substance use or mental health issues.
Mental health and cognitive impairment deserve particular attention, because they are extremely common in this cohort and frequently undiagnosed. A properly prepared report does two jobs: it supports the bail application by explaining and addressing risk, and it opens the diversionary pathways we set out in our article on section 32 and section 14 mental health applications.
The general framework for how bail decisions are made in NSW is covered in our complete guide to bail in New South Wales, and the related show cause regime for serious adult offences in our article on what show cause bail requires. Section 22C sits alongside those, not instead of them.
Diversion still exists – and it is the better fight
It is easy to become so focused on bail that the underlying question is missed. The Young Offenders Act 1997 (NSW) provides a graduated scheme of warnings, cautions and youth justice conferences designed to keep young people out of court altogether, and eligibility is assessed offence by offence.
For a young person charged with a serious break and enter while on bail, full diversion may not be available. But the question of whether some charges can be dealt with that way, and whether the matter can be resolved in a way that avoids further remand, is worth pressing hard from the first day.
If your child has been refused bail
Act immediately. A refusal at the police station is not the end of it – the matter goes before a court, and a properly prepared application with supervision, accommodation and programs in place looks entirely different from an unprepared one. Where circumstances have changed or fresh material becomes available, a further application may be possible.
Make sure your child understands that bail conditions must be complied with exactly, and that a breach can create fresh problems of its own, as our article on when a breach of bail becomes a separate criminal charge explains. And tell them plainly: do not post anything, do not discuss the matter in group chats, and do not contact co-accused.
Contact Us
Section 22C was written to be difficult, and it is. For a 15 or 16 year old, the difference between a prepared and an unprepared bail application is very often the difference between sleeping at home and spending months on remand awaiting a hearing – in a system where four out of five young people in custody have not been sentenced for anything.
At National Criminal Lawyers, we appear in youth bail applications across NSW, including in the Children’s Court. We know what a section 22C application needs to look like to succeed, how to assemble supervision and program support quickly, and how to keep the focus on diversion where it remains available.
Call us at 1800 CRIM LAW for a free consultation. Help us help you understand your situation and get you the best outcome possible.
