SOUTH AUSTRALIA

TOTAL OFFENDERS

There were 46,407 offenders proceeded against by police in South Australia in 2017–18. This was a 6% (2,909 offenders) decrease from 2016–17. (Table 6)

The offender rate also decreased for this period, by 217 offenders, from 3,265 offenders to 3,049 offenders per 100,000 persons. (Table 6)


PRINCIPAL OFFENCE

The three most common principal offences in South Australia in 2017–18 were:

• Illicit drug offences (34% or 15,799 offenders)
• Public order offences (19% or 8,686 offenders)
• Acts intended to cause injury (14% or 6,665 offenders) (Table 6)

SEX

In South Australia, there were 35,361 male offenders (76%) and 11,047 female offenders (24%) in 2017–18. (Table 10)

The number of female offenders decreased by 3% (or 304 offenders), from 11,351 offenders in 2016–17. (Table 10)


YOUTH OFFENDERS

In 2017–18, there were 3,792 youth offenders, which accounted for 8% of offenders in South Australia. (Table 20)

The most common principal offence among youth offenders in South Australia was Illicit drug offences, which accounted for 19% of youth offenders in 2017–18. (Table 20)


POLICE PROCEEDINGS

In 2017–18, there were a total of 64,097 police proceedings in South Australia. (Table 29)

Between 2016–17 and 2017–18, the number of court actions decreased by 2% (622 proceedings) and non-court actions decreased by 5% (1,703 proceedings). (Table 29)

There were 29,395 court action proceedings in 2017–18. Acts intended to cause injury was the most common offence to be proceeded against via this method (26% or 7,509 proceedings). (Table 29)

Over the same time period, there were 34,700 non-court proceedings. Illicit drug offences remained the most common offence proceeded against via this method (49% or 16,831 proceedings). (Table 29)