TECHNICAL NOTE CHANGES TO OFFENCE DATA


INTRODUCTION

1 From this issue, offence data for 2008-09 and onwards will be compiled and presented according to revised offence classifications. In 2009, the Australian Standard Offence Classification (ASOC), 2008 (Second edition) (cat. no. 1234.0) and the National Offence Index (NOI) 2009 (cat. no. 1234.0.55.001) were introduced into the Criminal Courts, Australia collection. The classification changes affect the Principal Offence that is used to describe the most serious offence type associated with a defendant. Previous issues of this publication were based on the Australian Standard Offence Classification (ASOC), 1997 (cat. no. 1234.0) and the 2002 National Offence Index (NOI).

2 ASOC08 was adopted to provide a more contemporary classification system, taking into account significant legislative changes that have occurred at state and territory level since the first edition was released, as well as satisfying emerging user requirements for offence data. NOI was updated largely to reflect changes made to ASOC.


IMPACT ON 2008-09 DATA AND TIME SERIES

3 All jurisdictions implemented ASOC08 and NOI09 for the provision of offence data for the 2008-09 Criminal Courts collection. Introducing ASOC08 and NOI09 involved remapping local jurisdictional offence codes to the new classification and applying the updated NOI09 to select a Principal Offence for each defendant. This process has had some level of impact to the comparability of the time series for all jurisdictions individually as well as to the national time series.

4 The total number of offence divisions has not changed between the two versions of the ASOC, and only minor changes have been made to division titles. However, ASOC08 includes three additional subdivisions and 16 additional groups. A few subdivisions and groups have been moved and are now inclusions in other subdivisions and groups. Changes have also been made to the inclusions and exclusions of the classification to improve coding. Refer to Appendix 4 for the concordance between ASOC08 and ASOC97. Further detailed information relating to the conceptual changes between ASOC97 and ASOC08 is available in Australian Standard Offence Classification (ASOC), 2008 (Second edition) (cat. no. 1234.0). Changes to the NOI can also be found in National Offence Index, 2009 (cat. no. 1234.0.55.001). Table 1 below provides a summary view of the major expected changes between divisions, some subdivisions and groups.

Table 1 - Expected major ASOC changes(a)
ASOC Division	Expected change	Reason
01 Homicide and related offences	nil	-
011 Murder		ASOC: Inclusion of conspiracy to murder (from Subdivision 012).
02 Acts intended to cause injury	+	ASOC: Inclusion of stalking (from Division 16).
	+	NOI: Relative change in rankings of serious assault resulting in injury (0211) and aggravated robbery (0611). Expect increase in assaults if they co-occur with aggravated robbery, and a decrease in robbery counts.
021 Assault	+	As above.
0291 Stalking	+	ASOC: New group in ASOC08 (from Division 16).
03 Sexual assault and related offences	+	ASOC: Inclusion of child pornography (from Division 13) and sexual servitude offences (potentially from Divisions 5, 6, 13 and 16).
0311 Aggravated sexual assault	+	ASOC: Inclusion of 'committed against a child' as an aggravating factor, from non-aggravated sexual assault (0312)
0312 Non-aggravated sexual assault	-	ASOC: Indecent assaults committed against a child moved to ASOC 0311.
0322 Child pornography offences	+	ASOC: New group in ASOC08 (from Division 13).
04 Dangerous or negligent acts endangering persons	+	NOI: Increase where driving under the influence of alcohol or other substance (0411) and dangerous or negligent operation (driving) of a vehicle (0412) co-occurs with other offences such as 0611, 0711, 0812 and 0829, as NOI rankings have moved from 89 and 90 to 37 and 38 respectively.
05 Abduction, harassment and other offences against the person	+	ASOC: Inclusion of harassment and private nuisance and threatening behaviour (from Division 16). This is not expected to be offset by the exclusion of sexual servitude (from Divisions 5, 6, 13 and 16).
	+	NOI: Expect some increase in Abduction/kidnapping (051) and Deprivation of liberty/false imprisonment (052) where aggravated assault (0211 in 1997) has been remapped to 0212. ASOC 0511 and 0521 are ranked above 0212 on the NOI, and are likely to be selected as the most serious offence when offences are remapped and co-occur.
	-	NOI: Conversely, may decrease where 0531 co-occurs with offences in Divisions 07, 08, 09 or 11, or groups 1211, 1542, 1559, 1561, 1612, 1631, 1694 or 1695. Has moved from rank 39 to 82.
06 Robbery, extortion and related offences	-	ASOC: Decrease due to the exclusion of sexual servitude offences (from Divisions 05, 06, 13 and 16).
	-	NOI: Decrease also expected where co-occurs with serious assault offences or abduction and kidnapping (0511) as both offences resulting in injury are now ranked above aggravated robbery in the NOI.
07 Unlawful entry with intent	-	NOI: Decrease where co-occurs with driving under the influence of alcohol or other substance (0411) and dangerous or negligent operation (driving) of a vehicle (0412) as these have moved from NOI rankings of 89 and 90 to 37 and 38 respectively.
08 Theft and related offences	+ (change expected for MCC & CCC only)	ASOC: Inclusion of fare evasion (from Division 09). Further possible increases where theft from retail premises (0823) co-occurs with other offences, as it has moved from a NOI ranking of 138 to 74 (impacts on some co-occurring offences in Divisions 10, 13, 15 and 16).
	-	NOI: May be balanced by decreases where theft co-occurs with driving under the influence of alcohol or other substance (0411) and dangerous or negligent operation (driving) of a vehicle (0412), as these have moved from NOI rankings of 89 and 90 to 37 and 38 respectively.
09 Fraud, deception and related offences	- (change expected for MCC & CCC only)	ASOC: Removal of fare evasion (to Division 08) and bribery involving government officials (to Division 15).
0991 Dishonest conversion	nil	-
10 Illicit drug offences	nil	-
101 Import or export illicit drugs	nil	-
102 Deal or traffic in illicit drugs	-	NOI: Decrease where deal or traffic in illicit drugs non-commercial quantity (1022) co-occurs with manufacture or cultivate (103) offences due to a change in ranking of these offences.
103 Manufacture or cultivate illicit drugs	+	NOI: Increase where co-occurs with deal or traffic in illicit drugs non-commercial quantity (1022) offences due to a change in ranking of these offences.
104 Possess and/or use illicit drugs	-	NOI: Decrease where co-occurs with theft from retail premises (0823) as ranking has moved from 138 to 74.
11 Prohibited and regulated weapons and explosives offences	nil	-
12 Property damage and environmental pollution	nil	-
1211 Property damage by fire or explosion	-	NOI: Decrease where co-occurs with driving under the influence of alcohol or other substance (0411) and dangerous or negligent operation (driving) of a vehicle (0412) as these have moved from NOI rankings of 89 & 90 to 37 & 38 respectively.
1212 Graffiti	nil	-
13 Public order offences	-	ASOC: Removal of child pornography and sexual servitude (both to Division 03) and conspiracy offences to other divisions (important to note that not all conspiracy offences have moved out of Division 13 with some recoded to 1312).
14 Traffic and vehicle regulatory offences	nil	-
141 Driver licence offences	nil	-
143 Regulatory driving offences	nil	-
1431 Exceed the prescribed content of alcohol or other substance limit	nil	-
1432 Exceed the legal speed limit	nil	-
15 Offences against justice procedures, govt. security and operations	+	ASOC: From Division 16 - Inclusion of immigration offences; from Division 09 - Bribery involving government officials.
153 Breach of violence and non-violence orders	nil	-
16 Miscellaneous offences	-	ASOC: Removal of harassment and private nuisance (to Divisions 02 or 05), threatening behaviour (to Division 05), and immigration offences (Divisions 03 or 15).
(a) All divisions other than Division 01 and Division 13 may experience some increase due to inclusion of conspiracy offences with actual offences. Further changes may have also impacted on Division counts in addition to those major changes represented here.

Analysis of impacts - Higher Courts

5 Seven jurisdictions (New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory) supplied 2008-09 Higher Courts data coded to both ASOC97 and ASOC08 which met ABS requirements for analysis of the impact of the changes to the classification for this court level. It should be noted that as part of the migration to ASOC08, jurisdictions also rectified a number of local offence codes that were discovered as being miscoded to ASOC in previous years.

6 Table 2 below shows the results of the analysis of the dual coded extracts for Higher Courts, providing estimated changes to the total movement for selected Principal Offence categories, summed across the jurisdictions mentioned above. Data was analysed by comparing selected state and territory 2008-09 finalised defendants by selected Principal Offence categories, comparing counts based on what the data would have looked like using ASOC97 and what the data are now reflecting using ASOC08. The differences between the two populations largely reflects the impact of the change from ASOC97 to ASOC08 and some changes as a result of correcting miscoding errors in ASOC97.

TABLE 2 - ESTIMATED IMPACT OF CLASSIFICATION CHANGES, 2008-09 Higher Courts, Defendants finalised(a) - combined selected states and territories(b)
		DEFENDANTS FINALISED(c)		DIVISION, SUBDIVISION AND GROUP CHANGE(d)
		ASOC97	ASOC08
		no.	no.	no.	%
01 Homicide and related offences
	011 Murder	104	103	-1	-1.0
	Other(e)	246	247	1	0.4
	Total	350	350	-	-
02 Acts intended to cause injury
	021 Assault	3 116	3 257	141	4.5
	0291 Stalking(e)	. .	52	52	. .
	Other(e)	12	10	-2	-16.7
	Total(e)	3 128	3 319	191	6.1
03 Sexual assault and related offences
	0311 Aggravated sexual assault	1 457	2 097	(f)640	(f)43.9
	0312 Non-aggravated sexual assault	506	149	(f)-357	(f)-70.6
	0322 Child pornography offences(e)	. .	242	242	. .
	Other(e)	479	142	(f)-339	(f)-70.8
	Total(e)	2 442	2 633	191	7.8
04 Dangerous or negligent acts endangering persons		391	472	(f)81	(f)20.7
05 Abduction, harassment and other offences against the person(e)		141	382	241	170.9
06 Robbery, extortion and related offences
	0611 Aggravated robbery	1 446	1 298	-148	-10.2
	Other(e)	185	171	-14	-7.6
	Total	1 631	1 469	-162	-9.9
07 Unlawful entry with intent		1 466	1 411	-55	-3.8
08 Theft and related offences(e)		443	414	-29	-6.5
09 Fraud, deception and related offences
	0991 Dishonest conversion	215	214	-1	-0.5
	Other(e)	518	498	-20	-3.9
	Total(e)	733	712	-21	-2.9
10 Illicit drug offences
	101 Import or export illicit drugs	109	118	9	8.3
	102 Deal or traffic in illicit drugs	1 976	1 911	-65	-3.3
	103 Manufacture or cultivate illicit drugs	443	523	80	18.1
	Other(e)	259	253	-6	-2.3
	Total	2 787	2 805	18	0.6
11 Prohibited and regulated weapons and explosives offences		156	152	-4	-2.6
12 Property damage and environmental pollution		353	344	-9	-2.5
13 Public order offences(e)		333	105	-228	-68.5
14 Traffic and vehicle regulatory offences(e)		13	17	4	30.8
15 Offences against justice procedures, gov't security and operations(e)		285	306	21	7.4
16 Miscellaneous offences(e)		296	56	-240	-81.1
Total defendants finalised(e)		14 951	14 951	. .	. .
. . not applicable
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) Includes rectification of miscoding of records not a direct result of changes to ASOC and NOI.
(b) Includes New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory.
(c) Represents 2008-09 data based on the old and new ASOC classification.
(d) Represents difference due directly as a result of ASOC08, NOI09 and rectification of miscoding errors.
(e) See table 8 for information as to what was included in these categories.
(f) There were substantial impacts in these offence categories due to the rectification of miscoding errors, in addition to the classification changes. However these cannot be quantified.

7 Table 2 illustrates that some finalised defendant counts have moved between Principal offence categories as a result of the classification and rectification of miscoding changes; however it also illustrates that the total number of finalised defendants in the Higher Courts for the combined selected states and territories has not been impacted by the classification changes.

8 The following ASOC Divisions recorded changes of 15% or greater:

• 04 dangerous or negligent acts endangering persons;
• 05 abduction, harassment and other offences against the person;
• 13 public order offences;
• 14 traffic and motor vehicle regulatory offences; and
• 16 miscellaneous offences.

9 The movements in division 14 were largely due to rectification of miscoding errors and small numbers. All other divisions recorded changes below 15%.

10 At the Subdivision level and/or Group level, four ASOC categories recorded changes of 15% or greater: acts intended to cause injury - other; Groups 0311-0312 and Subdivision 103. Acts intended to cause injury is negligible due to small number counts. Aggravated and non-aggravated sexual assault were largely impacted by miscoding errors between these two categories, as well as ASOC changes.

11 Overall six Divisions had impacts of less than 5%; and a further five divisions had impacts less than 10%.

12 Table 3 below provides an overview of the changes to the Principal Offence counts for all finalised defendants between 2007-08 and 2008-09 with and without the classification changes. The table shows that the number of Higher Courts finalised defendants in 2008-09 increased by 2.8% from 2007-08 (from 16,735 defendants in 2007-08 to 17,202 defendants in 2008-09). The increase in finalised defendant numbers has not been impacted by the classificatory changes.

13 However, given that changes have occurred across divisions, subdivision and groups as a result of changes to ASOC08 and NOI09, the allocation of Principal Offence in some cases will be different than if they were classified to ASOC97 and NOI02. The correction of miscoding errors in 2008-09 could also have resulted in changes between published offence categories, however these were not significant in most cases.

14 To illustrate, Table 3 shows that the number of Higher Courts finalised defendants with a Principal Offence of dangerous or negligent acts endangering persons increased by 31.5%. Approximately 20.7% of this change can be attributed to changes to the classification and/or miscoding rather than an actual increase in defendants for this offence category. Excluding these classification changes, the estimated increase in defendants for this offence category from 2007-08 to 2008-09 would be approximately 10.8%, rather than 31.5%.

15 The interpretation of these movements is further complicated as estimates could not be based on data from all states and territories. As Victoria was unable to provide dual coded data that met ABS analysis requirements for all court levels, the full classificatory impacts could not be measured. Caution should therefore be exercised when using these estimates as the accuracy of the level of movement cannot be fully ascertained as the movements do not reflect any measures for Victoria's Higher Courts. The data should only be used as a guide to interpret the level of movements for Principal Offences between 2008-09 and previous years.

TABLE 3 - INDICATIVE IMPACT OF CLASSIFICATION CHANGES, 2008-09 Higher Courts defendants finalised(a) - Australia
		DEFENDANTS FINALISED(b)		CHANGE FROM 2007-08 TO 2008-09
		2007-08	2008-09			Classification Impacts ASOC97 to ASOC08	Indicative change (excluding classification impacts) 2007-08 to 2008-09
		no.	no.	no.	%	%	%
01 Homicide and related offences
	011 Murder	153	147	-6	-3.9	-0.7	-3.3
	Other(c)	r359	335	-24	-6.7	0.3	-7.0
	Total	r512	487	-25	-4.9	-	-4.9
02 Acts intended to cause injury
	021 Assault	r3 797	3 822	25	0.7	3.7	-3.1
	0291 Stalking(c)	. .	54	. .	. .	. .	. .
	Other(c)	42	10	-32	-76.2	-4.8	-71.4
	Total(c)	r3 839	3 891	52	1.4	5.0	-3.6
03 Sexual assault and related offences
	0311 Aggravated sexual assault	r1 754	2 456	702	40.0	36.5	3.5
	0312 Non-aggravated sexual assault	531	219	-312	-58.8	-67.2	8.5
	0322 Child pornography(c)	. .	243	. .	. .	. .	. .
	Other(c)	402	162	-240	-59.7	-83.8	24.1
	Total(c)	r2 687	3 083	396	14.7	7.1	7.6
04 Dangerous or negligent acts endangering persons		r397	522	125	31.5	20.4	11.1
05 Abduction, harassment and other offences against the person(c)		r161	419	258	160.2	149.7	10.6
06 Robbery, extortion and related offences
	0611 Aggravated robbery	r1 614	1 466	-148	-9.2	-9.2	-
	Other(c)	r207	221	14	6.8	-6.8	13.5
	Total	r1 821	1 687	-134	-7.4	-8.9	1.5
07 Unlawful entry with intent		1 484	1 469	-15	-1.0	-3.7	2.7
08 Theft and related offences(c)		r529	459	-70	-13.2	-5.5	-7.8
09 Fraud, deception and related offences
	0991 Dishonest conversion	r262	214	-48	-18.3	-0.4	-17.9
	Other(c)	r650	639	-11	-1.7	-3.1	1.4
	Total(c)	r912	853	-59	-6.5	-2.3	-4.2
10 Illicit drug offences
	101 Import or export illicit drugs	r128	141	13	10.2	7.0	3.1
	102 Deal or traffic in illicit drugs	r1 933	2 092	159	8.2	-3.4	11.6
	103 Manufacture or cultivate illicit drugs	522	637	115	22.0	15.3	6.7
	Other(c)	r250	265	15	6.0	-2.4	8.4
	Total	r2 833	3 135	302	10.7	0.6	10.0
11 Prohibited and regulated weapons and explosives offences		r205	180	-25	-12.2	-2.0	-10.2
12 Property damage and environmental pollution		388	370	-18	-4.6	-2.3	-2.3
13 Public order offences(c)		326	178	-148	-45.4	-69.9	24.5
14 Traffic and vehicle regulatory offences(c)		7	20	13	185.7	57.1	128.6
15 Offences against justice procedures, gov't security and operations(c)		298	354	56	18.8	7.0	11.7
16 Miscellaneous offences(c)		315	95	-220	-69.8	-76.2	6.3
Total(c)		16 735	17 202	467	2.8	. .	. .
. . not applicable
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
r revised
(a) Includes rectification of miscoding of records not a direct result of changes to ASOC and NOI.
(b) Represents published counts for 2007-08 based on ASOC97 and 2008-09 based on ASOC08.
(c) See table 8 for information as to what was included in these categories.

Analysis of impacts - Magistrates' Courts

16 The same analysis undertaken for the Higher Courts was applied to the Magistrates' Courts data. Six jurisdictions (New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory) supplied 2008-09 Magistrates' Courts data dual coded to both ASOC97 and ASOC08 which met analysis requirements.

17 Table 4 below shows the results of the analysis for Magistrates' Courts of the dual coded Courts extracts, providing estimated changes to the total movement for selected principal offence categories summed across the six jurisdictions mentioned above to measure movements that represent classification changes for this court level. The differences largely reflect the impact of changes between ASOC97 and ASOC08, and some change as a result of correcting miscoding errors in ASOC97.

TABLE 4 - ESTIMATED IMPACT OF CLASSIFICATION CHANGES, 2008-09 Magistrates' Courts, Defendants finalised(a) - combined selected states and territories(b)
		DEFENDANTS FINALISED(c)		DIVISION, SUBDIVISION AND GROUP CHANGE(d)
		ASOC97	ASOC08
ASOC Division, Subdivision and Group		no.	no.	no.	%
01 Homicide and related offences		494	495	1	0.2
02 Acts intended to cause injury
	021 Assault	48 164	48 392	228	0.5
	0291 Stalking(e)	. .	2 332	2 332	. .
	Total(e)	48 223	50 784	2 561	5.3
03 Sexual assault and related offences
	0311 Aggravated sexual assault	2 114	2 580	466	22.0
	0312 Non-aggravated sexual assault	684	423	-261	-38.2
	0322 Child pornography offences(e)	. .	440	440	. .
	Total(e)	3 303	3 738	435	13.2
04 Dangerous or negligent acts endangering persons		47 559	34 602	(f)-12 957	(f)-27.2
05 Abduction, harassment and other offences against the person(e)		183	2 208	2 025	1 106.6
06 Robbery, extortion and related offences		2 222	1 937	-285	-12.8
07 Unlawful entry with intent		8 876	8 642	-234	-2.6
08 Theft and related offences
	Theft/illegal use of a motor vehicle(e)	2 903	1 621	-1 282	-44.2
	Other(e)	23 734	26 737	3 003	12.7
	Total(e)	26 641	28 764	2 123	8.0
09 Fraud, deception and related offences(e)		17 480	12 074	-5 406	-30.9
10 Illicit drug offences
	102 Deal or traffic in illicit drugs	4 945	4 685	-260	-5.3
	103 Manufacture or cultivate illicit drugs	3 670	3 987	317	8.6
	104 Possess and/or use illicit drugs	20 221	19 980	-241	-1.2
	Total(e)	32 797	32 607	-190	-0.6
11 Prohibited and regulated weapons and explosives offences		6 562	6 393	-169	-2.6
12 Property damage and environmental pollution		14 068	13 870	-198	-1.4
13 Public order offences
	132 Regulated public order offences(e)	5 331	6 393	1 062	19.9
	Other(e)	46 551	43 661	-2 890	-6.2
	Total(e)	51 882	50 054	-1 828	-3.5
14 Traffic and vehicle regulatory offences
	141 Driver licence offences	82 468	84 048	1 580	1.9
	1431 Exceeding the prescribed content of alcohol or other substance limit(e)	59 080	73 650	(f)14 570	(f)24.7
	1432 Exceeding legal speed limit	18 597	18 599	2	-
	Other(e)	61 317	63 226	1 909	3.1
	Total(e)	221 477	239 523	18 046	8.1
15 Offences against justice procedures, gov't security and operations
	Breach of violence and non-violence orders(e)	10 426	10 391	-35	-0.3
	Other(e)	21 891	22 341	450	2.1
	Total(e)	32 317	32 732	415	1.3
16 Miscellaneous offences(e)		12 116	7 722	-4 394	-36.3
Total defendants finalised(e)		526 226	526 226	. .	. .
. . not applicable
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) Includes rectification of miscoding of records not a direct result of changes to ASOC and NOI.
(b) Includes New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory.
(c) Represents 2008-09 data based on the old and new ASOC classification.
(d) Represents difference due directly as a result of ASOC08, NOI09 and rectification of miscoding errors.
(e) See table 8 for information as to what was included in these categories.
(f) There were substantial impacts in these offence categories due to the rectification of miscoding errors, in addition to the classification changes. However these cannot be quantified.

18 Table 4 shows that the following ASOC Divisions recorded changes of 15% or greater:

• 04 dangerous or negligent acts endangering persons;
• 05 abduction, harassment and other offences against the person;
• 09 fraud, deception and related offences; and
• 16 miscellaneous offences.

19 The largest impact was Division 05 and most of this was due to ASOC.

20 At the Subdivision and Group level five ASOC categories recorded changes of 15% or greater: aggravated and non-aggravated sexual assault; theft/illegal use of a motor vehicle; regulated public order offences; and exceeding the prescribed content of alcohol or other substance limit.

21 Table 5 below provides an overview of the changes to the Principal Offence counts for all finalised defendants between 2007-08 and 2008-09 with and without the classification changes. To illustrate, the table shows that the number of Magistrates' Courts finalised defendants in 2008-09 increased by 2.6% from 2007-08 (from 619,544 defendants in 2007-08 to 635,924 defendants in 2008-09). The increase in finalised defendant numbers has not been impacted by the classificatory changes.

22 However, given that changes have occurred across divisions, subdivision and groups as a result of changes to ASOC08 and NOI09, the allocation of Principal Offence in some cases will be different than if they were classified to ASOC97 and NOI02. The correction of miscoding errors in 2008-09 could also have resulted in changes between published offence categories, however these were not significant in most cases.

23 For example, Table 5 shows that the number of Magistrates' Courts finalised defendants with a Principal Offence of sexual assault and related offences increased by 14.3%. Approximately 11.4% of this change can be attributed to changes to the classification and/or miscoding rather than an actual increase in defendants for this offence category. Excluding these classification changes, the estimated increase in defendants for this offence category from 2007-08 to 2008-09 would be approximately 2.9%, rather than 14.3%.

24 The interpretation of these movements is further complicated as estimates could not be based on data from all states and territories. As Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory were unable to provide dual coded data that met ABS analysis requirements for all court levels, the full classificatory impacts could not be measured. Caution should therefore be exercised when using these estimates as the accuracy of the level of movement cannot be fully ascertained as the movements do not reflect any measures for Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory's Magistrate's Courts. The data should only be used as a guide to interpret the level of movements in Principal Offence between 2008-09 and previous years.

TABLE 5 - INDICATIVE IMPACT OF CLASSIFICATION CHANGES, 2008-09 Magistrates' Courts, Defendants finalised(a) - Australia
		DEFENDANTS FINALISED(b)		CHANGE FROM 2007-08 TO 2008-09
		Defendants 2007-08	Defendants 2008-09			Classification Impacts ASOC97 to ASOC08(c)	Indicative change (excluding classification impacts) 2007-08 to 2008-09
ASOC Division, Subdivision and Group		no.	no.	no.	%	%	%
01 Homicide and related offences		555	525	-30	-5.4	0.2	-5.6
02 Acts intended to cause injury
	021 Assault	53 080	57 031	3 951	7.4	0.4	7.0
	0291 Stalking(d)	. .	2 564	2 564	. .	. .	. .
	Total(d)	53 221	59 663	6 442	12.1	4.8	7.3
03 Sexual assault and related offences
	0311 Aggravated sexual assault	2 211	2 719	508	23.0	21.1	1.9
	0312 Non-aggravated sexual assault	967	638	-329	-34.0	-27.0	-7.0
	0322 Child pornography(d)	. .	510	510	. .	. .	. .
	Total(d)	3 812	4 356	544	14.3	11.4	2.9
04 Dangerous or negligent acts endangering persons		51 737	42 467	-9 270	-17.9	-25.0	7.1
05 Harassment, abduction and related offences(d)		251	2 883	2 632	1 048.6	806.8	241.8
06 Robbery, extortion and related offences		2 358	2 133	-225	-9.5	-12.1	2.5
07 Unlawful entry with intent		9 840	10 261	421	4.3	-2.4	6.7
08 Theft and related offences
	Theft/illegal use of a motor vehicle(d)	3 586	2 084	-1 502	-41.9	-35.8	-6.1
	Other(d)	28 931	34 231	5 300	18.3	10.4	7.9
	Total(d)	32 520	36 721	4 201	12.9	6.5	6.4
09 Fraud, deception and related offences(d)		20 352	15 736	-4 616	-22.7	-26.6	3.9
10 Illicit drug offences
	102 Deal or traffic in illicit drugs	5 107	5 510	403	7.9	-5.1	13.0
	103 Manufacture or cultivate illicit drugs	4 349	4 932	583	13.4	7.3	6.1
	104 Possess and/or use illicit drugs	19 724	21 478	1 754	8.9	-1.2	10.1
	Total(d)	33 135	35 890	2 755	8.3	-0.6	8.9
11 Prohibited and regulated weapons and explosives offences		8 367	8 377	10	0.1	-2.0	2.1
12 Property damage and environmental pollution		15 699	16 041	342	2.2	-1.3	3.4
13 Public order offences
	132 Regulated public order offences(d)	4 218	6 642	2 424	57.5	25.2	32.3
	Other(d)	60 181	63 763	3 582	6.0	-4.8	10.8
	Total(d)	64 399	70 405	6 006	9.3	-2.8	12.2
14 Traffic and vehicle regulatory offences
	141 Driving licence offences	86 434	95 144	8 710	10.1	1.8	8.2
	1431 Exceeding the prescribed content of alcohol or other substance limit(d)	64 403	81 968	17 565	27.3	22.6	4.7
	1432 Exceeding legal speed limit	32 515	22 713	-9 802	-30.1	-	-30.2
	Other(d)	87 004	79 328	-7 676	-8.8	2.2	-11.0
	Total(d)	270 411	279 153	8 742	3.2	6.7	-3.4
15 Offences against justice procedures, gov't security and operations
	Breach of violence and non-violence orders(d)	11 012	11 640	628	5.7	-0.3	6.0
	Other(d)	23 172	25 791	2 619	11.3	1.9	9.4
	Total(d)	34 184	37 431	3 247	9.5	1.2	8.3
16 Miscellaneous offences(d)		17 842	13 570	-4 272	-23.9	-24.6	0.7
Total(d)		619 544	635 924	16 380	2.6	. .	. .
. . not applicable
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) Includes rectification of miscoding of records not a direct result of changes to ASOC and NOI.
(b) Represents published counts for 2007-08 based on ASOC97 and 2008-09 published data based on ASOC08.
(c) Classification impacts are based on the change observed across the six combined jurisdictions who provided dual-coded extracts, and include changes due to miscoding.
(d) See table 8 for information as to what was included in these categories.

Analysis of impacts - Children's Courts

25 The same analysis undertaken for the Higher and Magistrates' Courts was applied to the Children's Courts data. Six jurisdictions (New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory) supplied 2008-09 Children's Courts data coded to both ASOC97 and ASOC08 which met analysis requirements of the impact of the changes to the classification for this court level.

26 Table 6 below shows the results of the analysis of the dual coded Children's Courts extracts, providing estimated changes to the total movement for selected principal offence categories summed across the six jurisdictions mentioned above to measure movements that reflect classification changes for this court level. The differences largely reflect changes between ASOC97 and ASOC08, and some change as a result of correcting miscoding errors in ASOC97.

TABLE 6 - ESTIMATED IMPACT OF CLASSIFICATION CHANGES, 2008-09 Children's Courts, Defendants finalised(a) - combined selected states and territories(b)
		DEFENDANTS FINALISED(c)		DIVISION, SUBDIVISION AND GROUP CHANGE(d)
		ASOC97	ASOC08
ASOC Division, Subdivision and Group		no.	no.	no.	%
01 Homicide and related offences		40	40	-	-
02 Acts intended to cause injury
	021 Assault	5 708	5 896	188	3.3
	0291Stalking(e)	. .	169	169	. .
	Other(e)	27	27	-	-
	Total(e)	5 735	6 092	357	6.2
03 Sexual assault and related offences(e)		547	563	16	2.9
04 Dangerous or negligent acts endangering persons		2 029	1 771	(f)-258	(f)-12.7
05 Abduction, harassment and other offences against the person(e)		12	192	180	1 500.0
06 Robbery, extortion and related offences		1 656	1 461	-195	-11.8
07 Unlawful entry with intent		4 756	4 626	-130	-2.7
08 Theft and related offences
	Theft/illegal use of a motor vehicle(e)	1 388	1 194	-194	-14.0
	Other(e)	3 858	4 361	503	13.0
	Total(e)	5 246	5 555	309	5.9
09 Fraud, deception and related offences(e)		564	245	-319	-56.6
10 Illicit drug offences		855	846	-9	-1.1
11 Prohibited and regulated weapons and explosives offences		418	423	5	1.2
12 Property damage and environmental pollution
	1211 Property damage by fire or explosion	271	264	-7	-2.6
	1212 Graffiti	276	256	-20	-7.2
	Other(e)	2 025	1 930	-95	-4.7
	Total	2 572	2 450	-122	-4.7
13 Public order offences
	132 Regulated public order offences(e)	252	231	-21	-8.3
	Other(e)	3 067	2 924	-143	-4.7
	Total(e)	3 319	3 155	-164	-4.9
14 Traffic and vehicle regulatory offences
	141 Driver licence offences	2 530	2 556	26	1.0
	143 Regulatory driving offences(e)	617	1 224	(f)607	(f)98.4
	Other(e)	288	291	3	1.0
	Total(e)	3 435	4 071	(f)636	(f)18.5
15 Offences against justice procedures, gov't security and operations(e)		1 086	1 089	3	0.3
16 Miscellaneous offences(e)		490	149	-341	-69.6
Total defendants finalised(e)		32 761	32 761	. .	. .
. . not applicable
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) Includes rectification of miscoding of records not a direct result of changes to ASOC and NOI.
(b) Includes New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory.
(c) Represents 2008-09 data based on the old and the new ASOC classification.
(d) Represents difference due directly as a result of ASOC08, NOI09 and rectification of miscoding errors.
(e) See table 8 for information as to what was included in these categories.
(f) There were substantial impacts in these offence categories due to the rectification of miscoding errors, in addition to the classification changes. However these cannot be quantified.

27 Table 7 shows that the following ASOC divisions recorded changes of 15% or greater:

• 05 abduction, harassment and other offences against the person;
• 09 fraud, deception and related offences;
• 14 traffic and vehicle regulatory offences; and
• 16 miscellaneous offences.

28 The most significant impact was division 5.

29 At the Subdivision/Group level one ASOC category recorded changes of 15% or greater: Subdivision 143 - Regulatory driving offences.

30 Table 7 below provides an overview of the changes to the Principal Offence counts for all finalised defendants between 2007-08 and 2008-09 with and without the classification changes. To illustrate, the table shows that the number of Children's Courts finalised defendants in 2008-09 increased by 7.1% from 2007-08 (from 39,412 defendants in 2007-08 to 42,197 defendants in 2008-09). The increase in finalised defendant numbers has not been impacted by the classificatory changes.

31 However, given that changes have occurred across divisions, subdivision and groups as a result of changes to ASOC08 and NOI09, the allocation of Principal Offence in some cases will be different than if they were classified to ASOC97 and NOI02. The correction of miscoding errors in 2008-09 could also have resulted in changes between published offence categories, however these were not significant in most cases.

32 For example, Table 7 shows that the number of Children's Courts finalised defendants with a Principal Offence of traffic and regulatory offences increased by 19.4%. Approximately 16.1% of this change can be attributed to changes to the classification and/or miscoding rather than an actual increase in defendants for this offence category. Excluding these classification changes, the estimated increase in defendants for this offence category from 2007-08 to 2008-09 would be approximately 3.3%, rather than 19.4%.

33 The interpretation of these movements is further complicated as estimates could not be based on data from all states and territories. As Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory were unable to provide dual coded data that met ABS analysis requirements for all court levels, the full classificatory impacts could not be measured. Caution should therefore be exercised when using these estimates as the accuracy of the level of movement cannot be fully ascertained as the movements do not reflect any measures for Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory's Childrens' Courts. The data should only be used as a guide to interpret the level of movements in Principal Offence between 2008-09 and previous years.

TABLE 7 - INDICATIVE IMPACT OF CLASSIFICATION CHANGES, 2008-09 Children's Courts, Defendants finalised(a) - Australia
		DEFENDANTS FINALISED(b)		CHANGE FROM 2007-08 TO 2008-09
		2007-08	2008-09			Classification impacts ASOC97 to ASOC08(c)	Indicative change (excluding classification impacts) 2008-08 to 2008-09
ASOC Division, Subdivision and Group		no.	no.	no.	%	%	%
01 Homicide and related offences		48	44	-4	-8.3	-	-8.3
02 Acts intended to cause injury
	021 Assault	6 065	7 563	1 498	24.7	3.1	21.6
	0291 Stalking(d)	. .	180	180	. .	. .	. .
	Other(d)	21	27	6	28.6	-	28.6
	Total(d)	6 086	7 770	1 684	27.7	5.9	21.8
03 Sexual assault and related offences(d)		649	699	50	7.7	2.5	5.2
04 Dangerous or negligent acts endangering persons		2 129	2 134	5	0.2	-12.1	12.4
05 Abduction, harassment and other offences against the person(d)		18	245	227	1 261.1	1 000.0	261.1
06 Robbery, extortion and related offences		1 957	1 706	-251	-12.8	-10.0	-2.9
07 Unlawful entry with intent		5 068	5 365	297	5.9	-2.6	8.4
08 Theft and related offences
	Theft/illegal use of a motor vehicle(d)	1 710	1 527	-183	-10.7	-11.3	0.6
	Other(d)	4 051	7 240	3 189	78.7	12.4	66.3
	Total(d)	5 761	8 767	3 006	52.2	5.4	46.8
09 Fraud, deception and related offences(d)		4 052	400	-3 652	-90.1	-7.9	-82.3
10 Illicit drug offences		762	942	180	23.6	-1.2	24.8
11 Prohibited and regulated weapons and explosives offences		563	653	90	16.0	0.9	15.1
12 Property damage and environmental pollution
	1211 Property damage by fire or explosion	307	348	41	13.4	-2.3	15.6
	1212 Graffiti	269	277	8	3.0	-7.4	10.4
	Other(d)	2 044	2 406	362	17.7	-4.6	22.4
	Total	2 620	3 031	411	15.7	-4.7	20.3
13 Public order offences
	132 Regulated public order offences(d)	425	566	141	33.2	-4.9	38.1
	Other(d)	3 092	3 472	380	12.3	-4.6	16.9
	Total(d)	3 517	4 038	521	14.8	-4.7	19.5
14 Traffic and vehicle regulatory offences
	141 Driving licence offences	2 691	2 979	288	10.7	1.0	9.7
	143 Regulatory driving offences(d)	995	1 431	436	43.8	61.0	-17.2
	Other(d)	270	314	44	16.3	1.1	15.2
	Total(d)	3 956	4 724	768	19.4	16.1	3.3
15 Offences against justice procedures, gov't security and operations(d)		1 105	1 193	88	8.0	0.3	7.7
16 Miscellaneous offences(d)		966	438	-528	-54.7	-35.3	-19.4
Total(d)		39 412	42 197	2 785	7.1	. .	. .
. . not applicable
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) Includes rectification of miscoding of records not a direct result of changes to ASOC and NOI.
(b) Represents published counts for 2007-08 based on ASOC07 and 2008-09 published data based on ASOC08.
(c) Classification impacts are based on the change observed across the six states/territories who provided dual coded analysis, and included changes due to miscoding.
(d) See table 8 for information as to what was included in these categories.

TABLE 8 - FOOTNOTES(a)
Division	Subdivision	Group	Principal Offence	Inclusions/Exclusions
01			Homicide and related offences
	011		Murder
			Other	Includes ASOC Subdivisions 012 and 013 (Higher Courts only).
			Total
02			Acts intended to cause injury
	021		Assault
		0291	Stalking	ASOC08 only. Stalking is included in division 14 in ASOC97.
			Other	Includes ASOC Groups 0290 and 0299.
			Total	Stalking is excluded from ASOC97 total. Includes ASOC Groups 0290 and 0299 (Magistrates Courts only).
03			Sexual assault and related offences
		0311	Aggravated sexual assault
		0312	Non-aggravated sexual assault
		0322	Child pornography offences	ASOC08 only. Child pornography is included in ASOC97 division 13 (Higher and Magistrates' Courts only).
			Other	Includes ASOC08 groups 0321, 0323 and 0329. ASOC97 excludes sexual servitude offences, which are included in ASOC97 Division 13 (Higher Courts only)
			Total	Includes ASOC Group 0300. Child pornography offences and sexual servitude offences are excluded from ASOC97 total.
04			Dangerous or negligent acts endangering persons
05			Abduction, harassment and other offences against the person	ASOC97 excludes Subdivision 053.
06			Robbery, extortion and related offences
		0611	Aggravated robbery
			Other	Includes ASOC Subdivision 062 and Group 0612 (Higher Courts only).
			Total
07			Unlawful entry with intent
08			Theft and related offences
			Theft/illegal use of a motor vehicle	Includes ASOC Groups 0811-0812 (Magistrates' and Children's Courts only).
			Other	Includes Subdivisions 082-084 and Group 0813 of the ASOC. ASOC97 excludes fare evasion. Fare evasion is included in ASOC97 Division 09 (Magistrates' and Children's Courts only).
			Total	Includes theft and related offences n.f.d. ASOC97 excludes fare evasion. Fare evasion is included in Division 09 in ASOC97.
09			Fraud, deception and related offences
		0991	Dishonest conversion
			Other	Includes ASOC97 Subdivisions 091-092, 094, 099 and ASOC08 Subdivisions 091-093 and Group 0999. (Higher Courts only).
			Total	ASOC08 excludes Fare evasion. Fare evasion is included in Division 08 in ASOC08. ASOC08 excludes Bribery (excluding government officials). This is included in ASOC Division 16.
10			Illicit drug offences
	101		Import or export illicit drugs
	102		Deal or traffic in illicit drugs
	103		Manufacture or cultivate illicit drugs
			Other	Includes ASOC Subdivisions 104 and 109 (Higher Courts only).
			Total	Includes ASOC Subdivisions 104 and 109 (Magistrates' Courts only).
11			Prohibited and regulated weapons and explosives offences
12			Property damage and environmental pollution
		1211	Property damage by fire or explosion
		1212	Graffiti
			Other	Includes ASOC Subdivision 122 and Group 1219.
			Total
13			Public order offences
	132		Regulated public order offences	ASOC08 excludes child pornography offences and sexual servitude offences. These are in ASOC08 Division 3 (Magistrates' and Children's Courts only).
			Other	Includes Subdivisions 131 (ASOC97 and ASOC08) and 133 (ASOC08) (Magistrates' and Children's Courts only).
			Total	ASOC08 excludes child pornography offences and sexual servitude offences. These are in ASOC08 Division 3.
14			Traffic and regulatory offences (Magistrates' Courts)
	141		Driver licence offences
	143		Regulatory driving offences	ASOC97 did not include 'exceed the prescribed content of other substances limit' (Children's Courts only).
		1431	Exceeding the prescribed content of alcohol or other substance limit	ASOC97 did not include 'exceed the prescribed content of other substances limit' (Magistrates' Courts only).
		1432	Exceeding legal speed limit
			Other	Includes Subdivisions 142 and 144 and Groups 1433 and 1439 of the ASOC (Magistrates' Courts only).
			Total	Includes traffic and vehicle regulatory offences, n.f.d. (Magistrates' Courts only). Includes Subdivisions 142 and 144 of the ASOC. ASOC97 did not include 'exceed the prescribed content of other substances limit' .
15			Offences against justice procedures, gov't security and operations
			Breach of violence and non-violence orders	Includes ASOC97 Groups 1514 and 1515 and ASOC08 Group 1531 and 1532 (Magistrates' Courts only).
			Other	Includes ASOC97 Subdivisions 152-154 and Groups 1511 and 1519 and ASOC08 Subdivisions 151, 154-156 and Groups 1521, 1524, 1525 and 1529 (Magistrates' Courts only).
			Total	ASOC97 excludes Bribery involving government officials. This is included in ASOC97 Division 09. ASOC97 excludes Immigration offences. This is included in Division 16 in ASOC97.
16			Miscellaneous offences	ASOC97 excludes Bribery (excluding government officials). This is included in ASOC97 Division 09. ASOC08 excludes Immigration offences. This is included in Division 15 in ASOC97.
			Total	Includes defendants for whom offence data are missing or a principal offence could not be determined.
(a) Footnotes for tables 2-7.