4512.0 - Corrective Services, Australia, Jun 2004
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 23/09/2004
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INTRODUCTION
3 Although national standards and classifications are used in the compilation of these statistics, some discrepancies remain between the states and territories. These are due to legislative and procedural differences between jurisdictions and the way that these differences are reflected in agencies' administrative data systems. As part of its quality assurance strategy, the ABS is working with corrective services agencies to minimise the effect of these differences. REFERENCE PERIOD/DATE 4 The reference period for average daily prisoner population statistics is the complete reference month. Average daily prisoner statistics are provided on this basis for all states and territories with the exception of data for Australian Capital Territory prisoners held in New South Wales, which are a single count taken on a specific day of the month. Sentenced prisoner reception counts are based on the complete reference month. The reference date for all other figures is the first day of the reference month. However, not all states and territories report strictly according to this 'first day of the month' rule:
5 Calculation of figures for the entire quarter and entire year varies depending on the counting unit and method of counting prisoners. These figures may be subject to rounding:
SCOPE 6 The scope of the statistics in this publication includes all persons remanded or sentenced to adult custodial corrective services agencies (including Work Outreach Camps and Community Custody Centres in Queensland), or who are serving adult community-based orders in each state and territory in Australia. 7 Counts of prisoners in the following custodial facilities are included in the collection:
8 The prisons and community corrections collection excludes the following custodial facilities:
9 This collection includes counts of persons remanded or sentenced to adult custody facilities, or directed to serve community based orders administered by adult corrective service agencies. In all states and territories except Victoria and Queensland, persons are considered adults if aged 18 years and over. In Victoria and Queensland persons are considered adults if aged 17 years and over. The vast majority of persons counted in the collection are adults, however, juveniles may be included in exceptional circumstances. 10 Community-based corrections includes those persons with breached or suspended orders, with the exception of Victoria and Tasmania. DATA SOURCE 11 Statistics in this publication are derived from information provided to the ABS from administrative records held by corrective services agencies within each state and territory. Statistics on federal prisoners are derived from records kept by the Criminal Law Division of the Australian Government Attorney-General's Department. 12 Tasmanian prisoner data for first day of month counts in Table 5 for reference periods prior to the September quarter 2003 are under enumerated. Data are currently being investigated and may be revised. Prior to January 2004, sentenced reception figures for Tasmania do not include all prisoners changing from unsentenced custody to sentenced custody. 13 New South Wales community-based corrections data are subject to ongoing quality assurance processes undertaken in this state. Prior to the September quarter 2003, pre-sentence reports were omitted from reported bail figures. Bail figures in Table 15 relating to earlier reference periods are under enumerated. 14 Queensland data are subject to ongoing quality assurance processes. Since 2002, prisoners held in Community Custody Centres are included in the custodial data, hence custodial figures for 2001 may be under enumerated. Queensland sentenced receptions for fine default only prisoners, prior to 2002, may also be under enumerated because these were previously classified as other sentenced receptions. COUNTING RULES 15 Statistics for persons held in custody are presented by the state or territory in which they are held, which may not be the sentencing jurisdiction. 16 Sentenced prisoners who have other offences which are unsentenced are counted as sentenced. Prisoners may be unsentenced because they are awaiting the outcome of their trial, convicted but awaiting sentence, or awaiting deportation. 17 Prisoners who are serving fine default sentences concurrently with other sentences of imprisonment are counted under the other sentenced type and not as fine default only prisoners. Offenders serving fine default sentences while on remand for other offences are counted as sentenced fine default only prisoners. 18 If an offender has two or more different types of community-based orders operating simultaneously, then each order will be counted. If two or more community-based orders are of the same type, these orders together will only be counted as one order. INDIGENOUS IDENTIFICATION 19 In all states and territories persons are asked during entry into custody whether they are of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin. It is uncommon for corrective services agencies to collect Indigenous status information from sources other than the person's own identification. 20 Some persons in custody are recorded as of unknown Indigenous status on the information systems of corrective services agencies, but unknown Indigenous status data have not been provided for this collection. Such persons are designated as non-Indigenous. It is intended that unknown Indigenous status will be collected from these systems in future. AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY PRISONERS 21 The Australian Capital Territory has two remand centres for unsentenced prisoners and a periodic detention centre. In January 1999, the Australian Capital Territory corrections commenced sending some unsentenced prisoners to New South Wales prisons. With the exception of some sentenced fine default only prisoners, persons sentenced to full-time custody by Australian Capital Territory criminal courts are held in New South Wales prisons. During 2000 the Australian Capital Territory commenced detaining prisoners sentenced for fine default only at their centre for unsentenced persons. 22 To provide greater understanding of the number of prisoners attributed to the Australian Capital Territory, while presenting an accurate picture of the New South Wales prisoner population, statistics relating to Australian Capital Territory prisoners in New South Wales prisons are presented as a subset of the New South Wales figures. 23 Imprisonment rate data for the Australian Capital Territory are included in the publication and are calculated on the basis of the total number of Australian Capital Territory prisoners (i.e. Australian Capital Territory prisoners held in New South Wales prisons, and Australian Capital Territory prisoners held in the Australian Capital Territory) divided by the estimated resident Australian Capital Territory adult population and multiplied by 100,000. For New South Wales, the imprisonment rate is based on the count of New South Wales prisoners, excluding Australian Capital Territory prisoners held in New South Wales prisons, divided by the estimated resident New South Wales adult population and multiplied by 100,000. Time series data have also been derived on this basis. RATES 24 Imprisonment and community-based corrections rates enable comparisons of prisoner numbers to be made across states and territories. Prisoner and community-based corrections rates are expressed per 100,000 adult population. 25 In this publication the population figures used in the calculation of rates are for persons aged 18 years and over for all states and territories except Victoria and Queensland where the population used is of persons aged 17 years and over (see Explanatory Notes, paragraph 9). 26 In some instances rates have not been published. Where this occurs, the cell concerned contains the symbol 'np'. This happens where, either the number of persons in custody is less than 10, or where the denominator population on which the rate is calculated is less than 5,000. This has been done because such rates can vary widely from month to month with small variations in numbers of persons, and therefore may give an inaccurate reflection of the involvement of persons in custody. 27 Rates for the total adult prisoner population and persons in community-based corrections are calculated using the estimated resident population (ERP) for each of the states and territories (refer Australian Demographic Statistics (cat. no. 3101.0)). As the population changes over time the denominator used for the calculation of rates varies, depending on the reference period. Rates are calculated using the ERP for two quarters prior to their respective quarters. Thus for the June quarter 2004, the ERP for the December quarter 2003 was used in the calculation of rates. This approach uses the latest ERP available at the time of publication. 28 In previous issues of this publication rates for the adult Indigenous imprisonment population were presented based on projections from Experimental Projections of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Population 30 June 1996 to 30 June 2006 (cat. no. 3231.0). These projections were based on the results of the 1996 Census of Population and Housing. A new set of projections for the Indigenous population, based on the 2001 Census of Population and Housing, are due for release on 27 September 2004 in the publication Indigenous Australians, Experimental Estimates and Projections 1991-2009 (cat. no. 3238.0). In future issues of Corrective Services, Australia (cat. no. 4512.0), adult Indigenous imprisonment rates (including the revision of previously published rates) will be published using population projections based on the 2001 Census of Population and Housing. 29 Rates for Indigenous imprisonment and the ratio of Indigenous to non-Indigenous imprisonment are not included in this issue. The ABS has temporarily discontinued the publication of these rates until the new population projections become available and are appropriately integrated into this series. SIGNIFICANT EVENTS 30 The Maryborough Correctional Centre, Queensland, was officially opened in April 2003. The Centre has the capacity to hold 500 prisoners. 31 From February 2001, legislative change in Western Australia resulted in an increased number of "Time to Pay" applications from fine defaulters. This contributed to a decrease in the number of fine option community-based corrections orders recorded. 32 During 2002 the following factors in Western Australia impacted on the prisoner population: an increase in the acquittal and dismissal rates in courts; greater use by the courts of suspended imprisonment and community orders as penalties; and a decrease in the breach rate for early release orders. The impact of these factors has been proportionally greater on the number of Indigenous prisoners who tend to be convicted of offences which attract shorter sentences. 33 During 2003 in Western Australia there was an increase in the number of Indigenous persons sentenced to imprisonment by the courts, mostly in relation to 'Driving/Traffic', 'Against the Person' and 'Justice/Good Order' offences. 34 Bail figures are included for the first time in Western Australia from the December quarter 2003. These are a result of new sentencing legislation that may also influence other community corrections data in future issues. 35 During the 2001-02 financial year, Tasmania recorded a large increase in the number of unsentenced prisoners. This overall increase was due to an increase in lodgments in the Supreme Court coupled with the move by police to more actively oppose bail. The variation over the period is explained primarily by the availability of judicial resources. A Supreme Court judge was allocated to a long running trial in the March and June quarters of 2002 - this represented 25% of the judicial resources allocated to crime by the court. There was also a reduction in the number of magistrates available in the Court of Petty Sessions due to a number of long running coronial inquests. 36 In the Northern Territory, over the 12 months to 30 June 2003, there has been an increase in the number of Indigenous persons sentenced to imprisonment for a range of assault and driving offences. RELATED PUBLICATIONS ABS Publications 37 Other ABS publications which may be of interest include: Australian Demographic Statistics (cat. no. 3101.0) - issued quarterly Australian Social Trends (cat. no. 4102.0) - issued annually Australian Standard Offence Classification (cat. no.1234.0) - irregular Crime and Safety, Australia (cat. no. 4509.0) - irregular Criminal Courts, Australia (cat. no. 4513.0) - issued annually General Social Survey: Summary Results, Australia (cat. no. 4159.0) - irregular Information Paper: Measuring Crime Victimisation, Australia: The Impact of Different Collection Methodologies (cat. no. 4522.0.55.001) - single issue Measuring Australia's Progress (cat. no. 1370.0) - issued annually Prisoners in Australia (cat. no. 4517.0) - issued annually Recorded Crime - Victims, Australia (cat. no. 4510.0) - issued annually Sexual Assault in Australia: A Statistical Overview (cat. no. 4523.0) - single issue Year Book Australia (cat. no. 1301.0) - issued annually. 38 The Information Paper: Measuring Crime Victimisation, Australia: The Impact of Different Collection Methodologies (cat. no. 4522.0.55.001) was released by the ABS in 2004. The main aim of this paper is to increase community understanding of the nature of crime measurement in Australia and why the findings from different data sources may differ. The paper outlines national crime victimisation statistics available from several different sources in the Australian context and draws comparisons between the statistics from these sources. The paper also describes methodological differences between survey sources and the possible impacts of the methodological differences between the survey vehicles. 39 Current publications and other products released by the ABS are listed in the Catalogue of Publications and Products (cat. no. 1101.0). The Catalogue is available from any ABS office or the ABS web site <https://www.abs.gov.au>. The ABS also issues a daily Release Advice on the web site which details products to be released in the week ahead. The National Centre for Crime and Justice Statistics releases a biannual newsletter that is published on the ABS web site. The Centre can be contacted by email through <crime.justice@abs.gov.au>. Non-ABS Publications 40 Non-ABS sources which may be of interest include: Australian Institute of Criminology, List of Publications <http://www.aic.gov.au> Crime Research Centre, University of Western Australia, Crime and Justice Statistics for Western Australia Department of Corrective Services, New South Wales, NSW Inmate Census Department of Justice, Northern Territory, Northern Territory Quarterly Crime and Justice Statistics Department of Justice, Victoria, Statistical Profile of the Victorian Prison System NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, New South Wales Criminal Courts Statistics Office of Crime Statistics and Research, South Australia, Crime and Justice in South Australia Steering Committee for the Review of Commonwealth/State Service Provision, Report on Government Services Document Selection These documents will be presented in a new window.
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