Background Life satisfaction among young offenders may be affected by the subjective experience of their social status and by the feeling of being a ‘loser’ compared with others, but it is not clear what variables affect such experiences in this group. Aims To examine relationships of type of sentence (prison or probation) and of gender with subjective social status, sense of defeat and life satisfaction among young offenders. Methods One hundred and five participants were randomly selected from a cohort of young offenders, stratifying for sentence type and for gender. They were interviewed by trained and experienced interviewers. Results Young people in a correctional facility experienced lower life satisfaction and greater sense of defeat than those on probation. Independently of judicial measure, low life satisfaction was correlated with sense of defeat among young men but not young women, whereas among young women, but not young men, low life satisfaction was associated with low subjective status. Conclusions and implications Our findings of a correlation between sentence type and life satisfaction needs new, longitudinal research to determine the direction of this relationship. Whether low life satisfaction is predictive of a custodial disposal for young offenders or such a sentence lowers life satisfaction, those trying to supervise or help these young people may need to take account of it. Further, our findings suggest that young male and young female offenders should perhaps be treated in different ways to improve their sense of satisfaction with life, which may, in turn, reduce their risk of reoffending. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.