FINALISED DEFENDANTS

This chapter presents information about defendants finalised in the criminal jurisdictions of the Higher (Supreme and Intermediate), Magistrates' and Children's Courts across Australia for the period 1 July 2014 to 30 June 2015. All Courts data refer to the grouping of the Higher Courts, Magistrates' Courts and Children's Courts.

Defendants include persons charged with criminal offences for each court level as well as organisations charged with criminal offences for the Higher and Magistrates' Courts. A finalised defendant is a person or organisation for whom all charges in a case have been formally completed so that they cease to be an item of work.

The diagram below shows a summary of the number of finalised defendants by court level, method of finalisation and, for defendants proven guilty, whether they received a custodial or non-custodial order as their principal sentence in 2014–15.



(a) Defendants will be counted twice where they are transferred from one of the three court levels and then finalised in another within the same reference period. See Explanatory Notes paragraphs 32-41.
(b) Includes defendants with an unknown method of finalisation.
(c) Includes defendants transferred to other court levels, deceased, unfit to plead, transferred to non-court agencies. Also includes defendants with cases withdrawn by prosecution and other non-adjudicated finalisations n.e.c.
(d) Includes defendants deceased, unfit to plead, deceased, transferred to non-court agencies. Also includes defendants with cases withdrawn by prosecution and other non-adjudicated finalisations n.e.c.
(e) Includes defendants for whom a principal sentence is unknown.

DEFENDANT NUMBERS

In 2014–15, there were a total of 588,167 defendants finalised in Australian state and territory criminal courts. The number of defendants has been increasing since 2012–13. (Table 1)


At the state and territory level, the largest contributors to the national number of defendants finalised were:

• Queensland accounting for 29% (172,367) of defendants;
• New South Wales accounting for 24% (143,427) of defendants; and
• Victoria accounting for 19% (108,834) of defendants. (Table 2)

In 2014–15, the number of defendants increased across most states and territories with the exception of Queensland, South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory (down 1,288, 3,768 and 568 defendants respectively). (Tables 22, 26 and 42)

The largest increase occurred in Western Australia (8% or 6,134 defendants), while the largest decrease occurred in South Australia (8% or 3,768 defendants). (Tables 30 and 26)

Decreases in the number of defendants in South Australia were partially due to the transfer of responsibility of the collection and enforcement of fines from the Courts Administration Authority to the new Fines Enforcement and Recovery Unit managed by the South Australian Attorney-General's Department. For more information refer to Explanatory Notes paragraph 87.



COURT LEVEL

The majority of defendants are finalised in the Magistrates' Courts. In 2014–15, 93% (545,096) of all defendants were finalised in the Magistrates' Courts, 5% (27,844) in the Children's Courts, and the remaining 3% (15,222) were finalised in the Higher Courts. While the increase in the number of defendants was reflected in the Magistrates' Courts (2% or 10,489) and the Higher Courts (2% or 281), the Children's Courts experienced a decrease of 6% (1,753). The number of defendants in the Children's Courts has been decreasing over the last five years. (Table 1)


SEX

Males account for the majority of finalised defendants. In 2014–15, the proportion of defendants who were male was 76% (448,594), while females accounted for 22% (131,486) and the remaining 1% (5,677) of defendants were organisations.

Between 2013–14 and 2014–15, there was a greater percentage increase in the number of female defendants than the number of male defendants. The number of females increased by 3% (or 3,683) while the number of males increased by 1% (or 4,865). This was also the case between 2012–13 and 2013–14 when the number of female and male defendants increased by 5% (6,504) and 2% (10,737) respectively. (Table 1)

AGE

The median age of all finalised defendants increased from 29 years in 2010–11 to 31 years in 2014–15.

The number of younger defendants has been decreasing over the last five years. The number of defendants aged 10–19 years has decreased from 14% (84,512) of all finalised defendants in 2010–11 to 11% (64,551) in 2014–15. (Table 1)

This decrease in younger defendants has also been reflected in the number of youth offenders (10–19 years) proceeded against by police which has decreased from 28% (107,245) of all offenders proceeded against in Australia in 2010–11 to 21% (85,442) in 2014–15. (Table 18 of Recorded Crime - Offenders, Australia (cat. no. 4519.0))


METHOD OF FINALISATION

The majority of defendants are proven guilty. In 2014–15, 87% (511,773) of all finalised defendants were proven guilty. The remaining defendants were finalised by other methods including withdrawn by prosecution (8% or 47,713), transfer to other court levels (2% or 14,319) or acquitted (2% or 12,441). (Table 1)

The proportion of male and female defendants who were proven guilty within their respective populations was similar, irrespective of sex, with 88% (115,315) of female defendants proven guilty in 2014–15 compared with 87% (390,184) of male defendants. The proportion of defendants who were finalised by withdrawn by prosecution was also similar for females (8% or 11,176) and males (8% or 34,895). (Table 3)

For the total finalised population, defendants were more likely to be proven guilty for:

• Dangerous or negligent acts endangering persons (94%);
• Traffic and vehicle regulatory offences (93%);
• Public order offences (92%); and
• Prohibited and regulated weapons and explosive offences (90%).

In contrast, the lowest proportion of defendants who were proven guilty by principal offence was:

• Homicide and related offences (43%);
• Sexual assault and related offences (43%); and
• Robbery, extortion and related offences (52%). (Tables 1 and 6)

However, for these offences, the proportion of defendants transferred from the Magistrates’ to the Higher Courts is higher than for other offences (see Explanatory Notes paragraph 41).

DURATION FROM INITIATION TO FINALISATION

Duration from initiation to finalisation represents the time elapsed between the earliest date of initiation and the latest date of finalisation for a defendant that has been finalised.

Across all defendants, the median length of time from initiation to finalisation remained stable at 6 weeks in 2014–15. This length varied depending on court level:

• In the Higher Courts it was 31 weeks;
• In the Magistrates' Courts it was 6 weeks; and
• In the Children's Courts it was 9 weeks.

The median length of duration also varied depending on the method by which the defendant was finalised. Cases that were acquitted (20 weeks) had a longer median duration than those where the defendant was proven guilty (6 weeks). This also varied by court level:

• In the Higher Courts the median length of duration for defendants who were acquitted was 45 weeks compared with 29 weeks for defendants who were proven guilty;
• In the Magistrates' Courts it was 18 compared with 5 weeks; and
• In the Children's Courts it was 17 compared with 8 weeks. (Table 5)

PRINCIPAL OFFENCE

The increase in the number of defendants in 2014–15 was driven by an increase in the number of defendants finalised with a principal offence of Illicit drug offences (17% or 8,487 defendants compared with 2013–14). The number of defendants finalised for Illicit drug offences has been increasing over the last five years; accounting for 10% (59,341) of all finalised defendants in 2014–15 compared with 7% (39,309) in 2010–11.

The principal offence showing the second greatest increase in 2014–15 was Offences against justice procedures, government security and government operations (10% or 4,079 defendants). The increase in this offence was driven by increases in Breach of violence and non-violence restraining orders (11% or 1,806 defendants).

The increase in the overall number of finalised defendants was partially offset by a decrease in the number of defendants finalised with a principal offence of Traffic and vehicle regulatory offences (2% or 4,323 compared with 2013–14). Despite the decrease, these offences remained the most prevalent principal offence, accounting for 35% (207,793) of all defendants finalised in 2014–15. More than half (57% or 117,509 defendants) were finalised for Regulatory driving offences which included offences such as exceeding the prescribed content of alcohol or other substance limit, exceeding the legal speed limit and parking offences.

Following Traffic and vehicle regulatory offences, other prevalent principal offences were:

• Acts intended to cause injury (12% or 69,228 defendants), of which 93% (64,295) were Assault;
• Illicit drug offences (10% or 59,341 defendants), of which 58% (34,243) were Possess and/or use illicit drugs; and
• Offences against justice procedures, government security and government operations (8% or 45,037 defendants), of which 44% (19,996) were Offences against justice procedures and 40% (17,809) were Breach of violence and non-violence restraining orders. (Table 1)

The most prevalent principal offence varied by court level. In the Higher Courts in 2014–15, the most prevalent offences were:

• Illicit drug offences (25% or 3,745 defendants);
• Acts intended to cause injury (19% or 2,838 defendants); and
• Sexual assault and related offences (19% or 2,832 defendants).

The most prevalent principal offence in the Magistrates' Courts in 2014–15 was Traffic and vehicle regulatory offences (38% or 205,948 defendants). This was followed by:

• Acts intended to cause injury (11% or 60,475 defendants); and
• Illicit drug offences (10% or 54,482 defendants).

The most prevalent principal offences in the Children's Courts in 2014–15 were:

• Acts intended to cause injury (21% or 5,920 defendants);
• Theft and related offences (20% or 5,691 defendants); and
• Unlawful entry with intent/burglary, break and enter (14% or 3,980 defendants). (Table 1)

PRINCIPAL OFFENCE BY SEX

The principal offences accounting for the largest proportion of male defendants in 2014–15 were:

• Traffic and vehicle regulatory offences (34% or 153,636 defendants);
• Acts intended to cause injury (12% or 55,463 defendants); and
• Illicit drug offences (10% or 46,434 defendants).

The principal offences accounting for the largest proportion of female defendants in 2014–15 were:

• Traffic and vehicle regulatory offences (38% or 49,376 defendants);
• Theft and related offences (11% or 14,535 defendants); and
• Acts intended to cause injury (10% or 13,696 defendants). (Table 3)