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Australian Crime: Facts and Figures 2003

Corrections

Note: The definition of adult varies among jurisdictions and over time. In 2001-2002, 'adult' referred to persons aged 18 years and over in all states and territories except Victoria and Queensland where adults are aged 17 and over. For the purpose of this publication, 'adult' refers to persons aged 17 years and over.

Persons under corrective services

Of the sentencing options available to the courts, corrective service authorities manage the offenders sentenced to imprisonment, community corrections or periodic detention.

Prisons

A national census of adult prisoners is taken on 30 June each year. The Australian Institute of Criminology began this collection in 1982, and conducted the census annually until 1993. This role was taken over by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 1994. The most recent statistics available are from the 2002 prison census.

A total of 22,492 persons were in custody in Australian prisons on the night of 30 June 2002, a slight increase (0.2%) on the number recorded in 2001. This corresponds to a rate of 148 per 100,000 adult population. This is 1% lower than the 2001 rate of 151, and the first decrease in the national imprisonment rate in the last decade. The majority, 18,078, were sentenced prisoners and 4,414 were remandees.

It should be noted that the prisoner counts include both sentenced prisoners and those on remand (unsentenced), unless otherwise specified.

Trend in prison populations

Most serious offence

Offenders can be sentenced to a prison term for one or a number of offences. The offence for which a prisoner is categorised as being incarcerated is the offence that is deemed most serious.

Violent prisoners are those convicted of homicide, assault, sexual assault, and robbery. Prisoners convicted of property offences include those charged with break and enter and with other theft (including motor vehicle theft). Other offenders are those who have been convicted of fraud, offences against justice procedures, government security and government operations, drug offences and others, such as public order and driving offences.

Gender

Figure 79 depicts the imprisonment rate of male and female persons (line graph and right axis) and the percentage of prisoners who were female (bar graph and left axis), from 1984 to 2002.

Indigenous status

Figure 81 depicts the imprisonment rate of Indigenous (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) and non-Indigenous persons (line graph and right axis) and the percentage of prisoners who are Indigenous (bar graph and left axis). These data include both sentenced prisoners and remandees.

Note: Population projections for Indigenous adults are based on data provided by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The ABS uses two methods to estimate Indigenous populations: the 'low series' and the 'high series'. Both employ certain assumptions about births, deaths and migration. The high series also incorporates assumptions about a change in the propensity to identify as Indigenous.

Figure 81 presents rates based on 'high series' population data (Source: Reference 26).

Community corrections

Community corrections comprise a variety of non-custodial programs which vary in the extent and nature of supervision, the conditions of the order, and the restrictions on the person's freedom of movement in the community. They generally provide either a non-custodial sentencing alternative or a post-custodial mechanism for re-integrating prisoners into the community under continued supervision.

  • In Australia during 2001-2002, there were 52,305 offenders per day, on average, serving community correction orders, a decrease of 12% on the number recorded in 2000-2001.
  • This corresponds to a rate of 351 per 100,000 adults in the population, 583 per 100,000 males and 125 per 100,000 females.
  • Males accounted for 81% of the community corrections population in 2001.2002.

Community corrections orders are classified into three main categories.

  • Restricted movement orders (e.g. home detention);
  • Reparation orders (e.g. fine options, community service);
  • Supervision (compliance) orders (e.g. parole, bail, sentenced probation).

Indigenous status

On average, 40,348 non-Indigenous offenders and 6,807 Indigenous offenders were serving community corrections orders in 2001-2002 (excluding Victoria).

Juvenile corrective institutions

The Australian Institute of Criminology has maintained a collection on the number of persons detained in juvenile corrective institutions since 1981. The census consists of a count of the number of persons detained in institutions on the last day of each quarter each year. Similar information is not available for the non-custodial sanctions, such as community service.

Note that the long-term trend data shown in Figure 85 is based on the census conducted on 30 June of each year.

Trend in juvenile corrective institution population

Given the differences among jurisdictions regarding the definition of a juvenile, statistics are shown for people aged between 10 and 17 years. Figure 85 depicts the imprisonment rate of male and female juveniles (line graph and right axis) and the percentage of juvenile prisoners who were female (bar graph and left axis), from 1981 to 2001.

Indigenous status

Data on incarcerated persons by Indigenous status has been made available since 1994. Figure 86 depicts the incarceration rate of Indigenous and non-Indigenous persons (line graph and right axis) in juvenile corrective institutions, and the percentage of juvenile prisoners who were Indigenous (bar graph and left axis), from 31 March 1994 to 30 June 2002 for each quarter.

Note: These data are based on the 'high series' of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population projections for juveniles. This method accounts for the effects of increased propensity to identify as Indigenous between the 1991, 1996 and 2001 censuses.