INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents information about the characteristics of defendants finalised in Australia's criminal courts charged with federal offences during 2008-09. Characteristics of defendants include age, sex, their principal federal offence, and sentence outcomes, as well as a count of the total number of federal offences heard by the criminal courts during 2008-09. Offence data in this chapter are based on ASOC08. Data are presented for all states and territories except Tasmania. Data from Tasmania were not readily available.