4500.0 - Crime and Justice News, Oct 2001  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 31/10/2001   
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Publications

Corrective Services, Australia

The June Quarter 2001 issue of Corrective Services, Australia was released on 27 September 2001. After a period of relative stability in the average daily number of prisoners in Australian prisons, the following graph shows that an upward trend is now evident.

graph - Persons in custody



Copies of Corrective Services, Australia (ABS Cat. No. 4512.0) are available from the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070.


Prisoners in Australia

Prisoners in Australia 2000 was released in May 2001 for the first time as an official ABS publication. The focus of this publication was on national statistics with State and Territory statistics available in supplementary tables.

Among the wealth of information contained in the publication are 10-year trends. For example, between 1990 and 2000, there was a 52% increase in the adult prison population in Australia. Over the same period, the adult imprisonment rate increased 32% to 148 prisoners per 100,000 adult population.

graph - Prisioners Australia



Copies of Prisoners in Australia 2000 (ABS Cat. No. 4517.0) are available from the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070.


Recorded Crime, Australia

Recorded Crime, Australia 2000 was released on 30 May 2001. This was the eighth edition in the series, and it provided a greater focus on national statistics than previous publications. Comprehensive State and Territory statistics were also made available as supplementary tables.

While there is no single 'headline' indicator for the Recorded Crime collection, the 2000 edition shows that the offence category of 'Other theft' affects the greatest number of Australians, with a victimisation rate of 3,523 per 100,000 persons. The victimisation rate for 'Other theft' increased by 30% between 1995 and 2000. 'Unlawful Entry With Intent' had the second highest victimisation rate.

graph - Other theft & unlawful entry with intent, Australia



Copies of Recorded Crime, Australia 2000 (ABS Cat. No. 4510.0) are available from the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070.


Higher Criminal Courts

The fourth edition of Higher Criminal Courts, Australia 1999-2000 was released in June 2001. This publication presents financial year statistics on the criminal workload of the Supreme and Intermediate Courts in Australia.

In this edition, four years of data have been included in Table 1, allowing better analysis of changes to the number of defendants initiated, finalised and pending. The data indicate:
  • a 13% increase between 1996/97 - 1999/2000 in the active workloads of Higher Courts; and
  • a 22% increase over the same period in defendants finalised, with a resultant increase in the completion rate from 57% to 62%.

Copies of Higher Criminal Courts, Australia 1999-2000 (ABS Cat. No. 4513.0) are available from the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070.