Skip to start of content

Home → Publications → Reports → Australian crime : facts and figures → 2004 → Criminal justice resources

Australian Crime : facts and figures 2004

7. Criminal justice resources

Justice expenditure

According to the Report on government services 2004 (Reference 28), the total real recurrent expenditure (less revenue from own sources) on justice in 2002-2003 was nearly $7.2 billion.

The total real recurrent expenditure (less revenue from own sources) on criminal justice in 2002-2003 was almost $6.8 billion. The remaining $0.4 billion was spent on the administration of the civil courts. Since 1998-1999, expenditure on criminal justice has increased by 13% overall and by an average of 3% each year.

Police services represent the largest component of the criminal justice system, accounting for approximately 72% of the total criminal justice-related expenditure. Corrective services account for a further 22%, and criminal court administration accounts for the remaining 6%.

Police

Policing activities are predominantly the responsibility of the police agencies of state and territory governments, with the Australian Federal Police providing a community policing service in the ACT on behalf of the ACT Government. Funding for these services comes almost exclusively from state and territory government budgets, with some specificpurpose grants provided by the Australian Government.

The figures below exclude resource data for the AFP for non-ACT policing functions.

Expenditure

The total recurrent expenditure on police services across Australia was $5.2 billion. This amounts to $264 for every person in Australia, and $357 per adult. Recurrent expenditure on salaries accounted for 77% of this expenditure.

Total recurrent expenditure, less revenue from own sources in 2002-2003 was $4.8 billion, or $245 for every person and $332 per adult.

Source: Reference 28

Staffing

Most people involved directly in the delivery of police services are sworn police officers (employees recognised under each jurisdiction's Police Act). Sworn police officers exercise police powers such as arrest, summons, caution, detain, fingerprint and search.

In recent years there has been a trend towards civilianisation of police services, with some non-core activities undertaken by non-sworn officers or contracted to external providers.

  • The total police services staffing in Australia on 30 June 2003 was 61,879, an increase of 7% on the number recorded in 2003. This averages 311 per 100,000 persons (242 sworn police officers and 69 civilian employees).
  • There were 48,130 sworn police officers and 13,749 civilian employees making up Australian police services in 2003.
  • Twenty-one per cent of sworn police officers in 2003 were female.

Source: Reference 34

Court administration

The total recurrent expenditure on court administration services across Australia was $1.1 billion in 2002-2003, an increase from $1.01 billion in 2001-2002. Expenditure for criminal court administration was about $468 million for 2002-2003, up from $431 million the previous year.

Total criminal court expenditure less income (excluding fines) was $456 million. This amounts to $23 for every person in Australia, and $30 per adult. All criminal court costs are attributed to state and territory governments.

Source: Reference 28

Figure 109 shows the average expenditure per case lodgment in the criminal courts. The higher the level of court, the higher the cost associated with each criminal case lodgment. This is because more complex and lengthy cases are typically tried in the higher courts.

Adult corrective services

Resources allocated for corrective services in Australia are divided into two broad categories: prisons and community corrections.

Total net expenditure on corrective services in Australia was approximately $1.72 billion in 2002-2003: $1.5 billion (86%) for prisons, $188 million (11%) for community corrections and $59 million (3%) for transport and escort services. This corresponds to $86 for every person in Australia and $112 for every adult.

Source: References 4 and 28