RELATED CLASSIFICATIONS - ASOC
RELATED CLASSIFICATIONS - ASOC
ASOC has been developed for use in the compilation and analysis of crime and justice statistics in Australia to improve the comparability of crime and justice statistics between Australian jurisdictions. The primary purpose of ASOC is to provide a systematic way of organising criminal offences defined in the criminal laws of Australian state and territory jurisdictions. ASOC defines an offence as any criminal act or omission by a person, persons, organisation or organisations for which a penalty could be imposed by the Australian legal system. The definitions of categories have been specifically chosen to minimise any confusion as to the boundaries of each category. As a result, the content of each category can be valid across jurisdictions, despite differences in legislation.
ASOC is a classification structured with three levels: Divisions are represented by two digit codes (the broadest level of detail); Subdivisions are represented by three digit codes (the intermediate level); and Groups are represented by four digit codes (the finest level). At the division level, the main purpose is to provide a limited number of offence categories that provide a broad overall picture of crimes experienced by victims or committed by offenders. The subdivision and group levels provide increasingly detailed dissections of these offence categories for the compilation of more specific and detailed crime and justice statistics.
ASOC also has additional codes called 'supplementary codes' to cater for instances where there is insufficient information to code to the four digit group level. Supplementary codes are created by taking a three-digit subdivision code and adding a single zero to create a four digit code. Instances where a subdivision cannot be selected, the most suitable division is selected and two zeros are appended to its code to create a four digit code.
More information about ASOC can be found in Australian Standard Offence Classification (ASOC), 2008 (Second Edition) (cat. no. 1234.0).
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