INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents national statistics about alleged offenders aged 10 years and over who were proceeded against by police during the period 1 July 2009 to 30 June 2010. The statistics provide a profile of the principal offence for which an offender was proceeded against by police and the characteristics of the offender (age and sex). National data on the number of times an offender was proceeded against, and police-initiated court and non-court proceedings, are not available due to the proceedings data from Western Australia not being of suitable quality for publishing (see Explanatory Notes paragraph 44).
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 8-17 of the Explanatory Notes.