The Young Offenders Act 1993 (SA) sets out a three tiered system of juvenile justice.

Two tiers of pre-court diversion apply where the youth is a first offender or relatively low-level offender and admits to the alleged offending. They are:

When charges have been laid, the Youth Court hears and determines matters which are:

Within this structure the Youth Court has discretion to refer matters back to be dealt with by formal police caution or family conference where appropriate - for example, where the youth now admits allegations of minor or first offending which had previously been disputed or now agrees to attend diversionary proceedings despite prior failure to attend [see Young Offenders Act 1993 (SA) s 17(2)].