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CRIME AND JUSTICE




POLICE

The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) is unique among Australian states and territories in the way policing is conducted by the Australian Federal Police (AFP). This is done via a policing arrangement between the Australian and ACT Governments.

The mission of ACT Policing is to keep the peace and preserve public safety within the ACT. The policing arrangement requires ACT Policing to achieve one key outcome, in partnership with the community, create a safer and more secure Australian Capital Territory.

Staffing

The ACT Policing, Annual Report, 2004-05 defines the ACT Policing Executive structure as being comprised of:

• a Chief Police Officer;
• a Deputy Chief Police Officer - Investigations and Support;
• a Deputy Chief Police Officer - Response; and
• a Director Corporate Services.

According to the Productivity Commission's Report on Government Services (ROGS) 2006, the number of sworn police staff in the ACT increased by 3% between 2000-01 and 2004-05. The number of unsworn police staff increased by 6% over the same period.

9.1 SWORN AND UNSWORN POLICE STAFF(a)(b) - ACT
	Sworn staff	Unsworn staff
	no.	no.
2000-01	591	185
2001-02	584	197
2002-03	594	205
2003-04	618	191
2004-05	606	196
(a) Comprises all FTE staff.
(b) In the ACT, civilianisation of support functions occurred throughout 2000-01 with the communications 'centre' now being substantially staffed by unsworn staff. In addition, as a result of a comprehensive review of enabling costs applicable to ACT Policing in 2000-01, the formula previously applied to the calculation for staffing and expenditure data has been significantly revised.
Source: Report on Government Services 2006, Productivity Commission.

The ROGS 2006 also indicated that the proportion of female police staff nationally (sworn and unsworn) has risen slightly in recent years from 28% in 2000-01 to 30% in 2004-05. Across states and territories for 2004-05, the proportion of female police staff ranged from 33% in New South Wales to 23% in Western Australia.

OFFENCES AND OFFENDERS

Reported offences

Crimes recorded by police are offences that became known to police and are recorded by them. These offences may have been reported by a victim, witness or other person, or may have been detected by police.

However, these statistics do not provide the total picture: ABS household-based crime and safety surveys reveal that many crimes are not reported to the police. In particular, surveys show that personal crimes such as assault and sexual assault are much less likely to be reported to police than property crimes. In addition, reporting rates can change over time.

Care should also be taken in interpreting changes in police statistics. Changes in recorded crime may reflect changes in:

• community attitudes to reporting crime,
• policing resources and strategies, and/or
• crime recording systems,

According to the ACT Policing, Annual Report, 2004-05, some 39,288 offences were reported to police during that financial year. This is a 12% decrease from the 44,564 reported offences shown in the 2003-04 report. The total number of offences cleared (processed) by the police during 2004-05 was 13,670, an 11% decrease from the 2003-04 figure (15,388). Offences cleared during a time period may not necessarily relate to those offences reported in the same time period. They could relate to offences reported in previous time periods.

Other theft (12,296), Property damage (7,383), Other offences not elsewhere classified (5,417) and Burglary (4,406) recorded the largest number of reported offences in 2004-05, while, Blackmail and extortion (3), Homicide and related offences (8) and Environmental offences (11) recorded the lowest.

Offenders

There were a total of 11,373 offenders recorded in the ACT for 2004-05. Of these offenders, 9,467 (83%) were male and 1,906 (17%) were female.

The category with the highest number of male offenders was Other offences not elsewhere classified (3,108, or 33% of male offenders). This was followed by Offences against good order (2,299 or 24%) and Burglary, fraud and other offences of theft (2,135 or 23%).

The category with the highest number of female offenders during 2004-05 was Burglary, fraud and other offences of theft (584, or 31% of female offenders), followed by Offences against good order (516 or 27%) and Other offences not elsewhere classified (492 or 26%).

The number of total offenders in 2004-05 (11,373) decreased by 26% from 2003-04 (15,435). The number of male offenders decreased by 22% (from 12,176 in 2003-04), while the number of female offenders decreased by 42% (from 3,259 in 2003-04).

9.2 REPORTED OFFENCES, By offence and offenders, ACT - 2004-05
		Offences (no.)(a)		Offenders (no.)
		Reported(b)	Cleared(c)	Male	Female	Total
Offences against the person
	Homicide and related offences	8	9	3	-	3
	Assaults (excluding sexual)	1 976	1 431	783	139	922
	Sexual assaults/offences	297	197	89	-	89
	Other offences	118	74	67	2	69
	Total	2 399	1 711	942	141	1 083
Property damage and environmental offences
	Property damage	7 383	719	444	72	516
	Environmental offences	11	5	1	-	1
	Total	7 394	724	445	72	517
Robbery and extortion
	Robbery	235	83	71	9	80
	Blackmail and extortion	3	2	1	-	1
	Total	238	85	72	9	81
Burglary, fraud and other offences of theft
	Burglary	4 406	336	349	38	387
	Fraud and misappropriation	838	672	448	78	526
	Handling stolen goods	217	247	242	60	302
	Theft or illegal use of vehicle	2 387	186	171	16	187
	Other theft	12 296	1 538	925	392	1 317
	Total	20 144	2 979	2 135	584	2 719
Offences against good order		3 128	2 845	2 299	516	2 815
Drug offences		568	553	466	92	558
Other offences not elsewhere classified		5 417	4 773	3 108	492	3 600
All offences		39 288	13 670	9 467	1 906	11 373
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) Offence classifications are based on the Australian National Offence Classifications (ANCO) (1985).
(b) Offences reported in Jervis Bay are excluded.
(c) Offences cleared do not necessarily relate to those offences reported in the time period.
Source: ACT Policing, Annual Report, 2004-2005.

DRUGS

There were 568 reported drug related offences in the ACT during 2004-05, a 12% decrease from 2003-04 (646). Over two-thirds of offences reported in 2004-05 were Possession or use of drugs (69%, or 393 offences), followed by Deal and traffic in drugs (19% or 107) and Manufacture and grow drugs (11% or 63).

9.3 DRUG OFFENCES(a) - ACT
	2002-03	2003-04(b)	2004-05
	no.	no.	no.
Possession or use of drugs	430	395	393
Deal and traffic in drugs	101	100	107
Manufacture and grow drugs	100	122	63
Other drug offences	11	29	5
Total offences	642	646	568
(a) Drug offences reported or becoming known to police.
(b) The data for 2003-04 are revised data from the ACT Policing, Annual Report, 2004-05.
Source: ACT Policing, Annual Reports, 2003-04 and 2004-05.

There was an 11% decrease in the total number of drug seizures in the ACT between 2003-04 (1,194) and 2004-05 (1,057). The drug seized most often in 2004-05 was Cannabis (562 seizures, or 53% of total drug seizures), followed by Amphetamines (182 seizures, or 17%).

9.4 DRUG SEIZURES IN THE ACT(a)(b)(c)
	2002-03		2003-04(d)		2004-05
	Number	Weight	Number	Weight	Number	Weight
Drug Type	no.	grams	no.	grams	no.	grams
Amphetamine	198	358	164	585	182	230
Cannabis	663	470 695	659	842 868	562	559 287
Cocaine	1	-	9	5	9	589
Heroin	91	285	96	268	47	84
LSD(e)	-	-	-	-	2	-
MDMA(f)	18	30	49	78	46	123
Non-drug(g)	166	1 029	122	577	82	1 115
Not for analysis	26	256	6	497	4	994
Other	105	795	75	363	97	10 975
Steroids	41	231	14	394	26	118
Total	1 309	. .	1 194	. .	1 057	. .
. . not applicable
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) The figures include seizures awaiting analysis to confirm both weights and the presence of the illegal substance.
(b) Recorded weights and drug types may differ from those previously recorded. Net weight confirmed has been used where available, otherwise net weight estimated has been used. The weight value indicated may also include packaging.
(c) ACT Policing Drug Registry figures differ from those prepared for the Australian Federal Police as a whole. The ACT Drug Registry counts each individual drug package seized, whereas the national figures combine like drugs together.
(d) The 2003-04 data are revised data from the ACT Policing Annual Report 2004-05.
(e) Lysergic Acid Diethylamide.
(f) Amphetamine analogue generally known as 'ecstasy'.
(g) The non-drug category includes substances seized with suspicion of being a drug but after analysis was determined otherwise.
Source: ACT Policing, Annual Reports, 2003-04 and 2004-05.

PEOPLE ARRESTED

A total of 3,898 people were arrested in the ACT during 2004-05, a 27% increase from 2003-04 (3,071). Of those arrested in 2004-05, 84% were male (3,278) and 16% (620) were female.

Adults made up 90% (3,513) of all people arrested in 2004-05. Ten percent (368) of adults arrested were Indigenous.

Juveniles accounted for the remaining 10% (385) of people arrested in 2004-05. A quarter of juveniles arrested (25%, or 97 people) were Indigenous.

9.5 NUMBER OF PEOPLE ARRESTED - ACT
		2001-02			2002-03(a)			2003-04(a)			2004-05
		Male	Female	Total	Male	Female	Total	Male	Female	Total	Male	Female	Total
Juvenile
	Indigenous	49	41	90	61	43	104	73	34	107	72	25	97
	Non-Indigenous	226	79	305	257	94	351	239	103	342	202	86	288
	Total	275	120	395	318	137	455	312	137	449	274	111	385
Adult
	Indigenous	213	66	279	247	78	325	188	91	279	282	86	368
	Non-Indigenous	2 531	385	2 916	2 759	415	3 174	1 809	534	2 343	2 722	423	3 145
	Total	2 744	451	3 195	3 006	493	3 499	1 997	625	2 622	3 004	509	3 513
Total		3 019	571	3 590	3 324	630	3 954	2 309	762	3 071	3 278	620	3 898
(a) The data for 2002-03 and 2003-04 are revised data from the ACT Policing, Annual Report, 2004-05.
Source: ACT Policing, Annual Reports, 2003-04 and 2004-05.

PRISONERS

The ACT has two remand centres for unsentenced prisoners and a periodic detention centre. Periodic detention is a sentencing option which at the time of the 30 June 2005 National Prisoner Census was available only to NSW and ACT courts. People given periodic detention are in custody for two consecutive days in a week (periodic detainee week), and remain at liberty during the rest of the week. With the exception of some sentenced fine default only prisoners, people sentenced to full-time custody by ACT criminal courts are held in NSW prisons.

In 2005, the ACT had a total of 275 prisoners, which was similar to 2004 when the figure was 278. In 2005, the majority of prisoners were held in the ACT (59%, or 162 prisoners) with the remainder held in NSW (41%, or 113 prisoners). Of those prisoners held in the ACT, 61% (99 prisoners) were sentenced and 39% (63) were unsentenced.

9.6 NUMBER OF PRISONERS - 2005
	ACT in ACT	ACT in NSW(a)	Total ACT	Australia(b)
Males	154	108	262	23 619
Females	8	5	13	1 734
Indigenous	17	9	26	5 656
Non-Indigenous	136	104	240	19 191
Unknown(c)	9	-	9	506
Sentenced	99	113	212	20 220
Unsentenced	63	-	63	5 133
All prisoners	162	113	275	25 353
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) The majority of full-time prisoners sentenced in the ACT are held in NSW prisons.
(b) The ACT in NSW figures are a subset of the NSW figures and are not separately counted in the Australian totals.
(c) Refers to persons whose Indigenous status is unknown.
Source: Prisoners in Australia, 2005 (cat. no. 4517.0).

Imprisonment rates

In 2005, Victoria recorded the lowest imprisonment rate of 94 prisoners per 100,000 adult population, followed by the ACT (110 prisoners per 100,000 adult population). The Northern Territory recorded the highest imprisonment rate (576 prisoners per 100,000 adult population).

Between 2004 and 2005, the ACT, South Australia and Queensland recorded decreases in imprisonment rates of 2% or less. The other states and territories recorded increases in imprisonment rates, with Tasmania recording the largest of 22%.

Between 1995 and 2005, increases in imprisonment rates were recorded in all states and territories other than SA, where there was a slight decrease.

9.7 Imprisonment rates - 1995 and 2005

In Australia, the average number of persons in community-based corrections on the first day of each month in 2005 was 53,846 people, an increase of 5% (2,797 persons) since 2004. In the ACT, the average number of persons in community-based corrections on the first day of each month for 2005 was 1,128, which was 26 people fewer than 2004 (1,102).

Nationally for 2005, the rate for persons in community-based corrections was 346 people per 100,000 adult population. The national male participation rate in community-based corrections was 574 per 100,000 adult male population, compared with 123 females per 100,000 adult female population.

The community-based correction rates in the ACT in 2005 were higher than the national rates. For persons in community-based corrections in the ACT the rate was 454 people per 100,000 adult population. The rate for males was 783 per 100,000 adult male population and for females it was 137 per 100,000 adult female population.

9.8 PERSONS IN COMMUNITY-BASED CORRECTIONS(a)(b)
	ACT	Australia
	no.	no.
MALES
2002	1 036	43 306
2003	989	41 337
2004	937	41 549
2005	954	43 985
FEMALES
2002	194	9 632
2003	167	9 080
2004	164	9 118
2005	174	9 714
PERSONS (c)
2002	1 230	53 203
2003	1 156	50 787
2004	1 102	51 049
2005	1 128	53 846
(a) Number on the first day of month calculated as a simple average, where the figures for each month are added and the total divided by twelve.
(b) The number of persons in community-based corrections includes those persons with breached or suspended orders.
(c) Includes persons whose sex is unknown.
Source: Corrective Services, Australia, December quarters 2004 and 2005 (cat. no. 4512.0).

PERIODIC DETENTION

Prisoners on periodic detention are required to be held in custody for only two consecutive days each week. Periodic detention is a form of custody currently only used in NSW and ACT.

Each day during 2005, there were on average 103 prisoners on periodic detention in the ACT, compared with an average daily number of 835 for NSW.

The rate of imprisonment for persons in periodic detention in the ACT was 41 per 100,000 adult population for 2005. In NSW that year it was 16 per 100,000 adult population. For 2004, the rates for the ACT and NSW were both lower at 38 per 100,000 population and 15 per 100,000 population respectively.

9.9 PERSONS IN PERIODIC DETENTION
	Average Daily Number			Rate per 100,000 adult population
	NSW	ACT	Total	NSW	ACT
	no.	no.	no.	rate	rate
MALES
2002	831	66	897	33.7	55.5
2003	739	73	811	29.7	60.7
2004	687	89	775	27.3	73.7
2005	762	96	858	30.0	78.8
FEMALES
2002	68	4	72	2.7	3.6
2003	60	4	64	2.3	3.0
2004	62	4	66	2.4	3.3
2005	73	7	80	2.8	5.5
PERSONS
2002	899	70	969	17.9	29.0
2003	799	76	875	15.8	31.1
2004	749	93	842	14.6	37.8
2005	835	103	938	16.2	41.4
Source: Corrective Services, Australia, December quarters 2004 and 2005 (cat. no. 4512.0).

COURTS

Criminal court system

The ACT Supreme Court is the superior court of record in the ACT. It has unlimited civil and criminal jurisdiction and exercises an appellate and supervisory jurisdiction in respect of the Magistrates Court and Tribunals. The ACT Supreme Court consists of four resident Judges, 17 additional Judges (each of whose primary commission is as a Judge of the Federal Court of Australia) and a Master.

The ACT also has a Magistrates Court which has limited jurisdiction to hear and determine civil and criminal cases across a range of disputes, including:

• offences under the criminal law
• applications for domestic violence, personal and workplace protection orders
• civil debt and damages, small claims, criminal injuries and worker's compensation
• commercial tenancies.

• Administrative Appeals Tribunal
• Credit Tribunal
• Discrimination Tribunal
• Guardianship & Management of Property Tribunal
• Mental Health Tribunal
• Residential Tenancies Tribunal

9.10 HIGHER COURTS, Finalised defendants(a)
	ACT	Australia
	no.	no.
1999-2000	190	19 212
2000-01	205	18 029
2001-02	171	17 997
2002-03	164	16 643
2003-04	119	17 315
2004-05	144	(b)16 523
(a) Includes defendants finalised by a bench warrant being issued for the reference periods 1999-2000 to 2001-02.
(b) Figure includes defendants with an unknown method of finalisation.
Source: Criminal Courts, Australia, 2004-05 (cat. no. 4513.0).

Court cases can be analysed by the duration or the time elapsed. For the ACT Higher Criminal Courts, the duration period which had the highest number of defendants finalised was the '26 and under 39 weeks' period with 39 individuals or 27% of the total ACT defendants. The 'Under 13 weeks' period had the least number (20 individuals, or 14% of the total).

In the ACT Higher Criminal Courts, the total finalised defendants (144) for 2004-05 was less than 1% of the national figure (16,523).

9.11 HIGHER CRIMINAL COURTS DEFENDANTS FINALISED, METHOD OF FINALISATION AND DURATION(a) - 2004-05
		NSW	Vic.	Qld(b)	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT	Aust.
		no.	no.	no.	no.	no.	no.	no.	no.	no.
Acquitted
	Under 13 weeks	12	-	20	3	-	4	3	-	42
	13 and under 26 weeks	67	46	52	9	6	14	-	4	198
	26 and under 39 weeks	76	58	62	6	22	8	6	9	247
	39 and under 52 weeks	46	44	38	16	30	7	6	6	193
	52 weeks and over	83	72	120	33	247	9	12	3	579
	Total	284	220	292	67	305	42	27	22	1 259
Guilty finding by court
	Under 13 weeks	4	5	18	7	-	17	-	-	51
	13 and under 26 weeks	22	40	31	14	13	26	-	-	146
	26 and under 39 weeks	60	77	50	15	31	18	-	3	254
	39 and under 52 weeks	67	39	44	29	62	8	3	3	255
	52 weeks and over	154	101	71	128	346	25	3	3	831
	Total	307	262	214	193	452	94	6	9	1 537
Guilty plea by defendant
	Under 13 weeks	422	408	1 445	98	809	164	120	17	3 483
	13 and under 26 weeks	822	619	927	153	360	74	51	22	3 028
	26 and under 39 weeks	492	319	988	82	126	21	42	21	2 091
	39 and under 52 weeks	293	230	540	55	107	8	14	19	1 266
	52 weeks and over	396	249	680	97	271	23	36	12	1 764
	Total	2 425	1 825	4 580	485	1 673	290	263	91	11 632
Non-adjudicated defendants(c)
	Under 13 weeks	61	3	76	63	66	22	8	3	302
	13 and under 26 weeks	110	20	216	49	42	30	5	5	477
	26 and under 39 weeks	49	19	247	19	29	16	12	6	397
	39 and under 52 weeks	46	17	139	16	26	11	3	3	261
	52 weeks and over	74	59	340	49	102	21	7	5	657
	Total	340	118	1 018	196	265	100	35	22	2 094
Defendants finalised(d)
	Under 13 weeks	499	416	1 559	171	875	207	131	20	3 878
	13 and under 26 weeks	1 021	725	1 226	225	421	144	56	31	3 849
	26 and under 39 weeks	677	473	1 347	122	208	63	60	39	2 989
	39 and under 52 weeks	452	330	762	116	225	34	26	31	1 976
	52 weeks and over	707	481	1 211	307	966	78	58	23	3 831
	Total	3 356	2 425	6 105	941	2 695	526	331	144	16 523
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) From initiation to finalisation.
(b) Excludes children treated as adults.
(c) Includes transfers.
(d) Includes defendants with an unknown method of finalisation.
Source: Criminal Courts, Australia, 2004-05 (cat. no. 4513.0).

BIBLIOGRAPHY


ABS

Recorded Crime Victims, Australia, 2004, cat. no. 4510.0.

Corrective Services, Australia, December Quarter 2004 and 2005, cat. no. 4512.0.

Criminal Courts, Australia, 2004-05, cat. no. 4513.0.

Prisoners in Australia, 2005, cat. no. 4517.0.

NON-ABS

Australian Capital Territory Department of Justice and Community Safety, Annual Report 2004-05, Volume 1, last viewed 11 August 2006, <http://www.jcs.act.gov.au/eLibrary/AnnualReports/>.

Australian Federal Police, ACT Policing, Annual Report 2004-05, last viewed 11 August 2006, <http://www.afp.gov.au/>.

Australian Federal Police, ACT Policing, Annual Report 2003-04, last viewed 11 August 2006, <http://www.afp.gov.au/>.

Productivity Commission, Report on Government Services 2006, last viewed 11 August 2006, <http://www.pc.gov.au/>.