Background: Little is known about the epidemiology of suicide in young people exposed to the youth justice system. Aims: To estimate the suicide rate in a large cohort of young people exposed to the youth justice system in Queensland, Australia and to identify the demographic/criminogenic risk factors associated with these deaths. Methods: Data relating to all young people who had any contact with the youth justice system in Queensland between January 1993 and December 2014 were linked to Australia’s National Death Index. We calculated the incidence rate of suicide within the cohort, stratified by sex and Indigenous status. Crude mortality rates (CMRs) were calculated for all-suicide and method-specific suicides, both overall and within key subgroups. Results: Of the 48,228 cohort members, 1,452 (3%) died during the follow-up period. For 31% (458) of decedents, the cause of death was suicide. The proportion of deaths due to suicide was highest for Indigenous females (37.9% of all deaths), followed by Indigenous males (36.8%), non-Indigenous males (30.1%) and non-Indigenous females (25.8%). Hanging was the most common method of suicide (83%). Conclusions: The disproportionately high incidence of suicide following contact with the youth justice system is a cause for concern. There is a pressing need to better understand the trajectories of young people after discharge from the youth justice system. This missing epidemiological knowledge would inform targeted, preventive interventions to be implemented during the window of opportunity when these vulnerable young people are under the care of the youth justice system.