DEFENDANTS ADJUDICATED

The following information only relates to defendants who 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 - road traffic and motor vehicle regulatory offences

Road traffic offences accounted for the greatest proportion (45% or 256,963) of defendants heard in the Magistrates' Courts in 2007-08. This was similar to the proportion of defendants with this offence in the previous year.

Of the defendants adjudicated in the Magistrates' Courts charged with road traffic offences as their principal offence, nearly a third (29%) were aged under 25 years. In total, 58% of defendants charged with road traffic offences were aged under 35 years.

Within the broad category of road traffic offences, defendants in 2007-08 were charged as follows:

• driving licence offences (33%);
• exceeding the prescribed content of alcohol limit (25%);
• exceeding the legal speed limit (12%); and
• other road traffic and motor vehicle regulatory offences (30%).

Younger defendants were more likely to be charged with driving licence offences than older defendants, 44% of defendants aged under 25 years compared with 18% 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 (19%) and parking offences (9%), compared with younger defendants aged under 25 years (8%). Around the same proportion of defendants in each age group were charged with exceeding the prescribed content of alcohol limit (approximately 25%).

Of defendants charged with road traffic offences as their principal offence, 74% (189,997) were males and 24% (62,005) were females. The largest proportion of both males and females were in court for driving licence offences (both 33%). However, males were more likely to have a principal offence of exceeding the alcohol limit (27%) than females (20%), while females were more than twice as likely to be charged with parking offences (13%) than males (6%).

Principal offence - offences other than road traffic

After road traffic offences, the largest proportion of defendants in 2007-08 were charged with: public order offences (11%); dangerous or negligent acts endangering persons (9%); acts intended to cause injury (8%); offences against justice procedures (6%); and theft and illicit drugs (both 5%). These proportions were all similar to those for 2006-07. Theft has declined over time, from 8% in 2003-04 to 5% in 2007-08.

Sex

In 2007-08, defendants were nearly four times more likely to be male (77%) than female (22%). This proportion has remained relatively stable since 2003-04, when males comprised 78% of defendants adjudicated.

Following road traffic offences, the three offences for which males were most commonly charged were: public order offences (12%); dangerous or negligent acts endangering persons (9%); and acts intended to cause injury (8%).

Females were most commonly charged with: theft (8%); public order offences (8%); and dangerous or negligent acts endangering persons (7%).

This was a similar pattern of offences to 2006-07 for both sexes.

Age

A third (33%) 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%).

The most common principal offence, apart from road traffic offences, for all age groups was public order offences, ranging from 7% of those aged 45 years and over, to 15% of those under 25 years. For those aged 35 to 44 years and those aged 45 years and over, acts intended to cause injury accounted for 9% and 7% respectively.

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 (44%), dangerous or negligent acts (40%), 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 homicide and sexual assault, those aged 45 years and over made up the largest proportion of defendants charged with these offences (36% and 35% respectively).

Defendants acquitted

In 2007-08, 24,333 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, 11% and 10% respectively.

Of defendants charged with road traffic offences, 3% (8,229) were acquitted.

States and territories with the largest proportions of adjudicated defendants acquitted included Tasmania (13%), Victoria (9%) and the Northern Territory (7%), 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 541,500 (96%) of defendants adjudicated in 2007-08, and has remained stable since 2003-04.

A proven guilty outcome accounted for the vast majority of defendants adjudicated for illicit drug offences and dangerous or negligent acts endangering persons (99% of defendants charged with either offence); and theft, road traffic, and offences against justice procedures (all 97%).

In South Australia, Queensland and Western Australia, almost all of the adjudicated defendants were proven guilty (99.8%, 99.3% and 99.1% respectively), which was above the national average of 96%.

Previous Page

Next Page