03/07/2008 Note: Additional data is available in Supplementary Datacubes.

NOTES


ABOUT THIS PUBLICATION

This publication presents national crime statistics relating to victims of a selected range of offences that have been recorded by police. These statistics provide indicators of the level and nature of recorded crime victimisation in Australia and a basis for measuring change over time. As not all crimes are reported to or recorded by police, other data sources can assist in providing a more comprehensive view of crime levels in society.

Additional data are expected to be available in Supplementary Datacubes (cat. no. 4510.0) on 4 July 2008.

INTERPRETATION OF RESULTS

The statistics contained in this publication are derived from administrative systems maintained by state and territory police. Although national standards and classifications are used, differences over time in the level of recorded crime may reflect factors other than a change in the incidence of crime. Over time there have been significant changes in police recording systems, business rules and legislation resulting in some discrepancies remaining between states and territories for some offence types. Short term effects on the level of crime recorded by police may also occur as a result of individual jurisdictional initiatives, such as special task forces formed to combat particular offences, or implementation of proactive policing campaigns to encourage reporting by the public. Details of differences that impact on the statistics are in the Explanatory Notes paragraphs 27-104.


CHANGES IN THIS ISSUE

The National Crime Statistics Unit (NCSU) has developed in collaboration with police agencies a National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS). This standard comprises a set of business rules and requirements to guide the recording and counting of criminal incidents by police. Some jurisdictions have implemented the NCRS part way through the 2007 calendar year. For further information see Explanatory Notes paragraphs 18-26.

The offence of driving causing death is no longer available at the national level as not all jurisdictions can supply this information.

Estimated Resident Population data used to calculate rates and indexes in this issue have changed. See Explanatory Notes paragraphs 115-117.


ROUNDING

Discrepancies may occur between sums of component items and totals across tables due to rounding and randomisation.


INFORMATION ON ABS CRIME AND JUSTICE

More information about ABS activities in the field of crime and justice statistics is available from the Crime and Justice theme page on the ABS website. Details of other ABS publications relating to crime and justice statistics can be found in paragraph 132 of the Explanatory Notes.


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The ABS acknowledges the valuable contribution of the Board of Management of the NCSU, the National Crime Statistics Advisory Group and the staff of the various agencies that provide the statistics that are presented in this publication.


INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or Terence Byrnes on Melbourne (03) 9615 7681.