- 9,232 federal defendants finalised in 2022–23, up 14%
- Harassment and threatening behaviour remained the most common principal federal offence (58%)
- Most judgements resulted in a guilty outcome (94%)
- One-third of those with a guilty outcome received a fine (33%)
- 17% were sentenced to custody in a correctional institution
Federal Defendants, Australia
Latest release
Statistics about defendants with federal offences dealt with by criminal courts including demographic, offence, outcome and sentence information.
Reference period
2022-23 financial year
Released
9/05/2024
Key statistics
Impact of COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in restrictions that affected the volume of defendants finalised in the Criminal Courts, and this should be considered when comparing the data for 2022–23 to earlier years. In addition, courts continued to resolve backlogs created or compounded by such restrictions which caused case finalisations to be delayed.
Federal Defendants in Australian Courts
This publication presents data related to defendants charged with an offence against Commonwealth (federal) legislation, who were finalised in an Australian criminal court in 2022–23. The data is a subset of the Criminal Courts, Australia collection.
The counting unit is a finalised defendant (see Glossary), excluding transfer between court levels.
There were 9,232 federal defendants finalised in 2022–23, an increase of 14% (1,140) from the previous year. This represented 2% of total defendants finalised (533,971) in Australia’s state and territory criminal courts over the same period, as reported in Criminal Courts, Australia, 2022–23.
The median age of federal defendants was 38 years, and males accounted for more than three-quarters (79%).
| Defendants (no.) | Defendants (%) | |
|---|---|---|
| Demographics | ||
| Male | 7,291 | 79 |
| Female | 1,779 | 19 |
| Organisation | 126 | 1 |
| Median age (years) | 37.5 | |
| Court Level (a) | ||
| Higher Courts | 932 | 9 |
| Magistrates Courts | 8,877 | 88 |
| Children's Courts | 302 | 3 |
| Top 4 Principal Federal Offences (b) | ||
| Harassment and threatening behaviour | 5,314 | 58 |
| Offences against government operations | 611 | 7 |
| Obtain benefit by deception | 496 | 5 |
| Non-assaultive sexual offences | 480 | 5 |
| Adjudicated finalisations | ||
| Guilty Outcome | 6,630 | 94 |
| Acquitted | 399 | 6 |
| Top 4 Principal Sentences | ||
| Fines | 2,213 | 33 |
| Good behaviour (incl. bonds) | 1,447 | 22 |
| Custody in correctional institution | 1,111 | 17 |
| Nominal and other penalties | 709 | 11 |
a. Includes transfer to other court levels
b. Based on Australian and New Zealand Standard Offence Classification (ANZSOC). See Methodology for full classification.
Principal federal offence
In 2022–23, the most common principal federal offences were:
- Harassment and threatening behaviour (58% or 5,314 defendants), such as nuisance phone calls or sending threatening messages
- Offences against government operations (7% or 611 defendants), such as taxation offences
- Obtain benefit by deception (5% or 496 defendants), such as identity fraud
- Non-assaultive sexual offences (5% or 480 defendants), such as the possession or distribution of child abuse material or grooming offences
Harassment and threatening behaviour
Across the time series, the proportion of defendants of harassment and threatening behaviour has continued to increase, accounting for 17% of defendants in 2010–11 compared with 58% in 2022–23.
(a) excludes defendants finalised by transfer to other court levels
For defendants of harassment and threatening behaviour, in 2022–23:
- 81% (4,320) were male
- Most (5,300) were classified to the ‘communications’ federal offence group, indicating the offence occurred online or by phone
- 94% (3,772) of judgements had a guilty outcome
- 10% (376) with a guilty outcome were sentenced to custody in correctional institution and 30% (1,117) received an order of good behaviour
Court outcomes
Of the federal defendants whose charges resulted in a court judgement, most (94% or 6,630) had a guilty outcome. For these defendants:
- A third (33%) received a fine as their principal sentence
- 22% were sentenced to a good behaviour bond
- 17% were sentenced to custody in a correctional institution
Across the time series, the proportion of defendants sentenced to a fine decreased from 41% in 2010–11 to 33% in 2022–23, and custody in a correctional institution increased over this time from 13% to 17%.
Data downloads
Guide to finding data in the federal defendants publication tables
Data files
Federal defendants, Australia (Tables 1 to 5)
Data files
Federal defendants, Federal Offence Group, Australia (Tables 6 to 10)
Data files
Methodology
Scope
Defendants (persons or organisations) charged against Commonwealth legislation with a case finalised in criminal courts during the financial year 2022–23. Each case separately finalised is counted, excluding court level transfers (unless specified).
Geography
Data are available for states and territories, and Australia.
Source
Administrative data supplied to the ABS by courts administration agencies or statistical agencies in each state and territory.
Collection method
Administrative data for all finalised criminal court federal defendants in the Higher (Supreme and District/County courts) Magistrates’ and Children’s Courts, are collected annually at the completion of each financial year.
Concepts, sources and methods
- Offences - the Australian and New Zealand Standard Offence Classification (ANZSOC), 2011 and the Federal offence groups.
- Court outcomes - the Method of Finalisation Classification.
- Penalties - the Sentence Type Classification 2023.
History of changes
- An updated Sentence Type Classification was introduced for the first time in 2022–23. This has been applied at a broad level to earlier years (where possible), and any issues in consistency over time have been noted.