Skip to start of content

Home → Publications → Reports → Australian crime : facts and figures → 2004 → Corrections

Australian Crime : facts and figures 2004

6. Corrections

The definition of adult varies among jurisdictions and over time. In 2002-2003, '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 until 1993. This role was then taken over by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 1994. The most recent statistics available are from the 2003 prison census.

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

A total of 23,555 persons were in custody in Australian prisons on the night of 30 June 2003, a 4.7% increase on the number recorded in 2002. This corresponds to a rate of 153 per 100,000 adult population. This is 3% higher than the 2002 rate of 148, and continues the increasing trend for the national imprisonment rate in the last decade. The majority (18,738) were sentenced prisoners and 4,817 were remandees.

Source: References 2, 3, 4, 30 and 31

Trend in prison populations

Most serious offence

Offenders can be sentenced to a prison term for one or a number of offences. The offence that an offender is categorised as being in prison for is the offence that is deemed most serious, as determined by length of sentence.

Violent prisoners are those convicted of homicide, assault, sex offences 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.

Source: References 30 and 31

Gender

Figure 97 shows the imprisonment rate of male and female persons, from 1984 to 2003.

Indigenous status

Figure 99 depicts the imprisonment rate of Indigenous (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) and non-Indigenous persons. 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. Figures in this publication present rates based on 'high series' population data (Source: Reference 33).

This year the ABS released revised Indigenous population figures in the 'high series' for 2001-2003, based on the 2001 census. Rate calculations for these years therefore differ from previous publications, particularly where juveniles are concerned.

Source: References 2, 3, 4 and 30

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 reintegrating prisoners into the community under continued supervision.

  • In Australia during 2002-2003 there were 51,929 offenders per day, on average, serving community correction orders, a decrease of 1% on the number recorded in 2001-2002.
  • This corresponds to a rate of 261 per 100,000 adults in the population; 429 per 100,000 males and 92 per 100,000 females.
  • Females accounted for a larger proportion of the community corrections population as compared with the prison population: 18% and 7% respectively.

Community corrections orders are classified into three main categories:

  • restricted movement orders (for example, home detention);
  • reparation orders (for example, fine options, community service); and
  • supervision (compliance) orders (for example, parole, bail, sentenced probation).

Source: Reference 28

Indigenous status

On average, 40,893 non-Indigenous offenders and 6,871 Indigenous offenders were serving community corrections orders in 2002-2003 (excluding Victoria).

Source: Reference 28

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 comprises 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 juvenile population.

Note that the long-term trend data shown in Figure 103 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 in this section are shown for people aged between 10 and 17 years. Figure 103 depicts the imprisonment rate of male and female juveniles from 1981 to 2003.

Indigenous status

Data on incarcerated juveniles by Indigenous status have been made available since 1994. Figure 104 depicts the incarceration rate of Indigenous and non-Indigenous persons in juvenile corrective institutions, from 31 March 1994 to 30 June 2003 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. This year the ABS released revised Indigenous population figures in the high series for 2001-2003, based on the 2001 census. Rate calculations for these years therefore differ from previous publications, particularly where juveniles are concerned.

Source: References 32 and 33