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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 2009 to 30 June 2010. Characteristics of the offender include sex and age, as well as the principal offence for which an offender has been proceeded against by police. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 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 for national reporting in 2009-10; refer to paragraphs 28 to 32 of the Explanatory Notes.

Caution should be exercised with data for South Australia. South Australia's data are overstated for the principal offence of illicit drugs, and to a lesser extent for public order and offences against justice. Details of offenders who received a cannabis infringement notice or a general infringement notice are not able to be linked to details for any other offences, resulting in some offenders being counted more than once. For further information refer to paragraph 45 of the Explanatory Notes. Victorian data were previously underestimated for the principal offences of public order, property damage and offences against justice. Most proceedings involving the issuing of penalty/infringement notices in Victoria were not included in this collection as data was not available, however this has been made available for this year's collection, as well as revised data for 2008-09. For further information, refer to paragraph 37 in the Explanatory Notes.

Police proceedings data are not published for Western Australia due to data quality concerns (refer to 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.