INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents information for each state and territory about the characteristics of persons aged 10 years and over who allegedly committed an offence and were proceeded against by police during the period 1 July 2010 to 30 June 2011. Characteristics of the offender include sex and age, as well as the principal offence for which an offender was proceeded against by police. Indigenous status data are presented for New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and the Northern Territory. Indigenous status data for the other jurisdictions are not considered to be of sufficient quality and/or do not meet ABS standards for self-identification for national reporting in 2010-11. For further information, refer to paragraphs 38-42 of the Explanatory Notes.
South Australian offenders data are overstated for Illicit drug offences, and to a lesser extent for Public order offences and Offences against justice. Details for offenders who received a Cannabis Infringement Notice or a General Infringement Notice cannot be linked to details for any other offences, resulting in some offenders being counted more than once. Therefore, caution should be exercised when using these data from South Australia. For further information refer to paragraphs 54-55 of the Explanatory Notes.
Data for police proceedings and the number of times an offender is proceeded against by police are not published for Western Australia due to data quality concerns that police proceeding counts may be overstated. Therefore Western Australia data and Australia totals are excluded from tables presenting data about the number of times proceeded against by police (Tables 3.5 and 3.6) and police proceedings data in Chapter 4. Western Australia Police utilise two separate offender recording systems. While data is successfully matched between systems for offender counts and associated demographic details, data about police proceedings between the two systems cannot be matched and subsequently can generate an overestimate of the number of times an offender is proceeded against by police during the reference period. For further information refer to paragraphs 56-57 of the Explanatory Notes.
Certain offences are excluded from the Recorded Crime - Offenders collection. For further information about the scope and counting methodology of the collection refer to paragraphs 3-6 and 8-16 of the Explanatory Notes.
Quality Declaration 
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