Technical and background paper series

No. 13: 2002 National police custody survey

Natalie Taylor and Michael Bareja
ISBN 0 642 53868 9 ; ISSN 1445-7261
Australian Institute of Criminology, 2005

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Abstract

This report summarises the findings of the fourth National police custody survey, which was conducted in October 2002 in conjunction with each police jurisdiction in Australia. The survey reflects an ongoing commitment by all police services in Australia to the recommendations made by the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. Survey findings are reported on: how many people go into and out of police cells over the course of one month; why people are placed in police custody; the types of offences associated with police custody; the length of time that people are in police custody; the proportions of incidents in which Indigenous people are involved; rates of Indigenous and non-Indigenous custody per population; and whether these patterns change over time. The report finds, among other things, that while overall numbers of custody and over-representation ratios remain high, it is clear that Indigenous custody rates have been declining in some jurisdictions. The proportion of all custody incidents which are attributable to alcohol has also been declining; however Indigenous people are still being placed into police cells for public drunkenness at a much higher rate than non-Indigenous people.

Contents

• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Executive summary
• Overview
• Characteristics of persons taken into police custody
• Characteristics of incidents of police custody
• Conclusions
• References
• Appendix A : Examples of current jurisdictional practice in police custody
• Appendix B : Technical appendix

List of tables

• Table 1 : Distribution of occurrences of police custody by state/territory
• Table 2 : Number of incidents of police custody by state/territory and Indigenous status
• Table 3 : Rates of Indigenous and non-Indigenous custody by jurisdiction
• Table 4 : Percentage of custody incidents involving Indigenous persons and over-representation ratios by jurisdiction for 1988, 1992, 1995 and 2002 surveys
• Table 5 : Custody incidents by gender and Indigenous status
• Table 6 : Custody incidents by age and Indigenous status
• Table 7 : Rates of custody and over-representation ratios by age and Indigenous status
• Table 8 : Reasons for being in custody
• Table 9 : Most serious offence associated with being in custody
• Table 10 : Percentage of most serious offence type within each age group
• Table 11 : Most frequent offence for custody by time of day admitted for all detainees
• Table 12 : Percentage of all public drunkenness incidents by gender, age and Indigenous status
• Table 13 : Average number of hours in custody by jurisdiction and Indigenous status
• Table 14 : Number of hours in custody by Indigenous status and most serious offence
• Table 15 : Number of hours in custody for incidents of public drunkenness by jurisdiction and Indigenous status
• Table 16 : Percentage of cases with missing data on Indigenous status, gender and age within each jurisdiction

List of figures

• Figure 1 : Numbers of police custody incidents for surveys conducted in 1988, 1992, 1995 and 2002
• Figure 2 : Percentage of incidents involving Indigenous persons within each state/territory
• Figure 3 : Comparison of custody incidents by Indigenous status for 1988, 1992, 1995 and 2002
• Figure 4 : Rates of Indigenous custody by jurisdiction in 1992, 1995 and 2002
• Figure 5 : Rates of non-Indigenous custody by jurisdiction in 1992, 1995 and 2002
• Figure 6 : Rate of custody incidents for assault by age and Indigenous status
• Figure 7 : Rate of custody incidents for burglary (break and enter) by age and Indigenous status
• Figure 8 : Rates of custody incidents for theft by age and Indigenous status
• Figure 9 : Rates of custody incidents for public order offences by age and Indigenous status
• Figure 10 : Rates of custody incidents for drug offences by age and Indigenous status
• Figure 11 : Rates of custody incidents for traffic offences by age and Indigenous status
• Figure 12 : Distribution of police custody incidents according to day of the week
• Figure 13 : Percentage of incidents according to date admitted to cells and Indigenous status
• Figure 14 : Time of day that persons were taken into custody
• Figure 15 : Time of day that custody incidents occurred for assault
• Figure 16 : Time of day that custody incidents occurred for burglary (break and enter)
• Figure 17 : Time of day that custody incidents occurred for theft
• Figure 18 : Time of day that custody incidents occurred for traffic offences
• Figure 19 : Time of day that custody incidents occurred for public order offences
• Figure 20 : Proportion of all incidents within each jurisdiction and across Australia due to public drunkenness
• Figure 21 : Percentage of all public drunkenness incidents within each jurisdiction by Indigenous status
• Figure 22 : Percentage of Indigenous and non-Indigenous incidents resulting from drunkenness in 1995 and 2002
• Figure 23 : Rate of custody incidents for public drunkenness by age and Indigenous status
• Figure 24 : Time of day that persons were taken into custody for public drunkenness
• Figure 25 : Day of the week that persons were taken into custody for public drunkenness
• Figure 26 : Length of time in custody for Indigenous and non-Indigenous incidents
• Figure 27 : Reasons for release from custody

Related links

• Project information: 2002 National police custody survey
• Fact sheet: Findings from the national police custody survey: offences