DEFENDANTS ADJUDICATED

The following information only relates to defendants whose charges were adjudicated, i.e. finalised via a plea of guilty or a decision by the Magistrate as to their guilt or otherwise of the final charges laid.


Principal offence - traffic and vehicle regulatory offences

Traffic offences accounted for the greatest proportion (46% or 264,849) of defendants heard in the Magistrates' Courts in 2008-09. This was similar to the proportion of defendants with this offence in the previous year (45%).

Of the defendants adjudicated in the Magistrates' Courts charged with traffic offences as their principal offence, nearly a third (29%) were aged under 25 years. In total, 59% of defendants charged with road traffic offences were aged under 35 years.

Within the broad category of traffic offences, defendants in 2008-09 were charged as follows:

• driving licence offences (35%);
• exceeding the prescribed content of alcohol or other substance limit (31%);
• exceeding the legal speed limit (8%); and
• other road traffic and motor vehicle regulatory offences (27%).

Younger defendants were more likely to be charged with driving licence offences than older defendants, 45% of defendants aged under 25 years compared with 21% of those aged 45 years and over. Driving licence offences include driving without a licence or driving while a licence is cancelled or suspended.

A greater proportion of defendants aged 45 years and over were charged with exceeding the legal speed limit (16%) and parking offences (8%), compared with younger defendants aged under 25 years (4% and 2% respectively). Around the same proportion of defendants in each age group were charged with exceeding the prescribed content of alcohol limit (approximately 31%).

Of defendants charged with road traffic offences as their principal offence, three-quarters (75% or 199,517) were males and just under a quarter (23% or 60,406) were females. The largest proportion of both males and females were in court for driving licence offences (34% and 38% respectively). However, more males had a principal offence of exceeding the alcohol/substance limit (32%) than females (27%), while more females were charged with parking offences (9%) than males (4%).

Principal offence - offences other than road traffic

After traffic offences, the largest proportion of defendants in 2008-09 were charged with: public order offences (12%); acts intended to cause injury (8%); dangerous or negligent acts endangering persons (7%) and offences against justice procedures and theft (both 6%).

After traffic offences, acts intended to cause injury accounted for the largest proportion of defendants heard in the Northern Territory (18%) New South Wales (14%), the Australian Capital Territory (11%) and Tasmania (8%). In Victoria, Queensland and South Australia, public order offences accounted for the next largest proportion of final charges heard (21%, 18% and 8% respectively). In Western Australia the most prevalent offence type after traffic offences was dangerous and negligent acts endangering persons (10%).

Sex

In 2008-09, more than three in four (77%) finalised defendants were male and under a quarter were female (21%). This proportion has remained relatively stable since 2003-04, when males comprised 78% of defendants finalised.

Following traffic offences, the three offences for which males were most commonly charged were: public order offences (13%); acts intended to cause injury (9%) and dangerous or negligent acts endangering persons (7%).

Females were most commonly charged with: theft and public order offences (both 9%); and acts intended to cause injury (7%).

Age

Nearly a third (32%) of defendants heard in the Magistrates' Courts were aged under 25 years, followed by those aged 25 to 34 years (30%), 35 to 44 years (20%), and 45 years and over (15%). These proportions were similar to those in 2007-08.

The most common principal offence, apart from road traffic offences, for all age groups was public order offences, ranging from 8% of those aged 45 years and over, to 16% of those under 25 years. For those aged 35 to 44 years, acts intended to cause injury was equally the highest offence with public order offences (both 10%).

When viewing selected principal offences, the proportions of defendants varied by age group (see chart below):

• Defendants aged 25 to 34 years accounted for the largest proportion of those charged with deception (33%), illicit drug offences (34%), and acts intended to cause injury (32%).
• Those aged under 25 years accounted for the largest proportion of defendants charged with public order offences (43%), dangerous or negligent acts (39%), and theft (38%).

In general, defendants aged 45 years and over, accounted for the smallest proportion of those charged across most principal offence types. However, for sexual assault, those aged 45 years and over made up the largest proportion of defendants charged with these offences (33%).

Defendants acquitted

In 2008-09, 25,169 or 4% of defendants adjudicated were acquitted in the Magistrates' Courts in Australia.

Defendants adjudicated for public order offences and acts intended to cause injury had the largest proportion of acquitted outcomes, 14% and 9% respectively.

Of defendants charged with traffic offences, 2% (5,773) were acquitted.

States and territories with the largest proportions of adjudicated defendants acquitted included Tasmania (16%), Victoria (12%) and the Northern Territory (6%), while South Australia had the smallest (less than 1%).


Defendants proven guilty

Defendants are referred to as 'convicted' where they were proven guilty of at least one of the final charges laid against them in a court. This includes defendants who plead guilty or were found guilty, including those found guilty ex-parte.

Defendants proven guilty in the Magistrates' Courts accounted for 552,379 (96%) of defendants adjudicated in 2008-09, and has remained stable since 2003-04.

Almost all defendants adjudicated for illicit drug offences and dangerous or negligent acts endangering persons (99% of defendants charged with either offence); and traffic offences (98%) were proven guilty.

The proportion of defendants proven guilty, of all finalised defendants, ranged from 95% in Tasmania to 70% in the Australian Capital Territory.

In Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia, almost all of the adjudicated defendants were proven guilty (all 99% respectively), which was above the national average of 96%.

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