4517.0 - Prisoners in Australia, 2013 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 05/12/2013   
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MOST SERIOUS OFFENCE/CHARGE

At 30 June 2013, the most common offences/charges for prisoners (either sentenced or unsentenced) were:
  • acts intended to cause injury (20%)
  • unlawful entry with intent, and illicit drug offences (both 12%)
  • sexual assault (11%)
  • robbery and extortion, and offences against justice procedures (both 10%).

Together, these offences/charges accounted for three quarters (75%) of all prisoners in 2013. (Table 1)

Sex

For male prisoners (either sentenced or unsentenced), the most common offences/charges were:
  • acts intended to cause injury (21%)
  • sexual assault, and unlawful entry with intent (both 12%).

For female prisoners (either sentenced or unsentenced), the most common offences/charges were:
  • illicit drug offences (18%)
  • acts intended to cause injury (17%)
  • unlawful entry with intent, homicide, and offences against justice procedures (all 10%).

Age

Prisoners aged 25 to 34 years (10,920 persons or 35% of prisoners) accounted for the highest proportion of prisoners for the following offences/charges:
  • prohibited and regulated weapons and explosives offences (47%)
  • abduction, harassment and other offences against the person (44%)
  • unlawful entry with intent (43%)
  • theft (41%).

Prisoners aged 35 to 44 years accounted for the highest proportion of prisoners for homicide (29%) and sexual assault (25%).


Graph Image for PROPORTION OF PRISONERS, selected most serious offence-charge, by age group


The following graph shows that when comparing different offences across age groups:
  • prisoners aged 55 years and over, and 45 to 54 years had a higher proportion of prisoners imprisoned for sexual assault than for any other age group (39% and 21% respectively)
  • for each of the remaining age groups, acts intended to cause injury was the most common most serious offence/charge. (Table 5)

Graph Image for PROPORTION OF PRISONERS, age groups by selected most serious offence-charge