Official Visitors at the Bimberi Youth Justice Centre have persistently raised concerns young people are spending too long on remand without a sentence.
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They say it is having a negative affect on the detainees' mental health.
Official Visitors act as an oversight body of government institutions such as detention facilities to ensure people, in this case children, are receiving adequate care from the territory.
In three reports between April and September last year, released under freedom of information laws, Official Visitors Tracey Whetnall and Narelle Hargreaves noted their concerns children on remand were experiencing "a lag" in having their matters finalised.
As at January 17 there were 13 young people detained at Bimberi Youth Justice Centre, with eight of those on remand, a Community Services Directorate spokeswoman advised.
Speaking to the Sunday Canberra Times, Ms Hargreaves said in her experience regularly visiting the centre, young people on remand tended to be unsettled and had voiced their concerns to her.
"I get the feeling, once they have a sentence, they just settle down a bit," Ms Hargreaves said.
"They know when they're going to get out of Bimberi."
She said it was different for those on remand.
"Sometimes I feel very sorry for them, they're just waiting there. They don't know what's going to happen to them.
"They feel they're in limbo."
Ms Hargreaves said she and her colleagues understood there were often unavoidable hold ups in court processes, but she hoped young people would be dealt with as soon as possible.
She said some juveniles were held on remand for months.
Minister for Children, Youth and Families Rachel Stephen-Smith said the Children and Young People Act required juveniles only be detained as a last resort and for the minimum time necessary.
Ms Stephen-Smith advised detainees on remand were generally housed separately from those who were sentenced, but the two groups attended educational programs and socialised together.
She said ultimately decisions regarding remand were a matter for the courts.
ACT Chief Magistrate Lorraine Walker said she held concerns over the amount of time young people spent on remand, both in custody and on bail.
"It is generally recognised that it is preferable to keep children and young people in the criminal justice system for no longer than necessary," the chief magistrate said.
"That said, there is no fixed time frame, nor can there be."
Ms Walker said varying seriousness of charges faced by young people, a young person's right to access legal advice and a number of processes such as reports from youth and health services created necessary, although undesirable, delays.
She said young people were remanded in custody only where absolutely necessary and at times it could be in their own best interest.
The chief magistrate has been vocal in calls for more magistrates in the ACT to increase the court's capability to deal with the territory's current workload. She said this was another factor, but not the only one, leading to delays in the children's court.
Limited resourcing to police, Legal Aid, Child and Youth Protection Services and other agencies were all, in part, responsible for the current situation.
Ms Stephen-Smith said young people on remand and those with sentences received continuous and individualised support at the youth justice centre.
Each detainee has a case manager and have access to the on-site school along with specialist services and visits from the Official Visitors and Children and Young People Commissioner.
There were 2065 family and friend visits recorded at the centre in 2017/18.
