OFFENDERS PROCEEDED AGAINST BY POLICE
Data collected by the ABS on offenders provide a measure of the number of alleged offenders who come into contact with the criminal justice system at the 'investigation and charging' stage. Following the recording of a crime as reported by a victim or detected by police, the criminal incident moves to an investigation phase where decisions are made as to whether or not an offender will be proceeded against by police.
The ABS Offenders collection produces statistics about alleged offenders aged 10 years and over who were proceeded against by police during a financial year for all states and territories, except Western Australia.
There were a total of 295,642 alleged offenders aged 10 years or more proceeded against by police during 2007-08 in Australia, excluding Western Australia. Over a quarter (26%) of offenders were proceeded against more than once during 2007-08, with 4% of offenders proceeded against 5 or more times.
The most common principal offences for offenders were: acts intended to cause injury (334 offenders per 100,000 people aged 10 years or more); public order offences (315 offenders per 100,000 people aged 10 years or more); theft and related offences and illicit drug offences (both 240 offenders per 100,000 people aged 10 years or more) (graph 13.9).
13.9 Offender Rate (a), Principal offence by combined states and territories (b)
The rate of offending for young people aged 15 to 19 years was the highest for any 5 year age group, with 5,856 offenders per 100,000 people aged 15-19 years compared with an overall rate of 1,774 offenders per 100,000 people aged 10 years or more. Offender rates decreased in a fairly consistent manner as the offender's age increased (graph 13.10).
13.10 Offender rate (a), Age by combined states and territories (b)
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