FEDERAL DEFENDANTS
Limited data about federal defendants are presented for the first time in this publication. Defendants who appear in Australian criminal courts may be charged with either a Commonwealth or State legislative offence or both.
Information about the number of finalised defendants who were charged with at least one federal offence, regardless of whether it was their principal offence, and the characteristics of these defendants are presented in this publication.
In 2008-09, 14,544 (2%) defendants in the Magistrates' Courts had one or more federal offences.
Females had a higher proportion of federal charges than males (3% compared to 2% respectively). Of the defendants with one or more federal offences, those aged 35 years or more had higher proportions than other age groups (53%). Those aged under 20 had the lowest proportion (2%). This pattern was similar for both males and females although for males the highest proportion was for those aged 45 years and over (30%) and for females 35-44 years (32%).
DEFENDANTS FINALISED, Proportion of federal offenders by age
![Graph: DEFENDANTS FINALISED, Proportion of federal offenders by age](/ausstats/abs@.nsf/91f72cb52e908514ca25709f0000a6a8/49cb6aaf05401a88ca2576e3000a1c0d/Body/0.6A2!OpenElement&FieldElemFormat=gif)