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The Nature of Crime in NSW

The Nature of Crime in NSW. Jackie Fitzgerald NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research. Data Sources. NSW Police recorded criminal incidents - COPS data Victim surveys NSW Criminal Courts data Reoffending database Specialised Research Other data sources. Recorded Crime Statistics.

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The Nature of Crime in NSW

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  1. The Nature of Crime in NSW Jackie Fitzgerald NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research

  2. Data Sources • NSW Police recorded criminal incidents - COPS data • Victim surveys • NSW Criminal Courts data • Reoffending database • Specialised Research • Other data sources

  3. Recorded Crime Statistics • These represent criminal incidents reported to and recorded by the NSW Police Advantages: • can collect information on a wide range of offences • can compare crime rates across areas • can compare crime rates over time Limitations : • Omits offences which are not reported • Certain offences only show levels of Police activity eg. drugs, drink driving • Suffers from deficiencies in Police record keeping

  4. 16 Major Offence Categories • break & enter- dwelling • break & enter- non-dwelling • motor vehicle theft • steal from vehicle • steal from dwelling • steal from person • retail theft • fraud • murder • assault • sexual assault • indecent assault • robbery unarmed • robbery w. firearm • robbery with a knife • malicious damage

  5. NSW Recorded Crime Trends 2001 - 2002 STABLE • murder stable • assault stable • sexual assault stable • indecent assault stable • robbery w. firearm stable • steal from dwelling stable • steal from person stable • fraud stable • malicious damage stable DOWN • robbery unarmed down 18% • robbery with a knife down 37% • break & enter- dwelling down 13% • break & enter-business down 21% • motor vehicle theft down 22% • steal from vehicle down 16% UP • Retail theft up 8%

  6. Clear up rates of Recorded Criminal Incidents Recorded incidents cleared within 180 days in 2001 • Murder 70.2% • Assault 64.5% • Sexual assault 33.3% • Robbery 15.7% • Break and enter 5.8% • Vehicle theft 6.9% • Steal from vehicle 3.0% • Malicious damage 16.6%

  7. Top 10 LGAs for Break and Enter dwelling

  8. Age specific rate of offending – break and enter 500 450 400 350 300 Rate per 100,000 250 200 150 100 50 0 10-14 15-19 20-24 25-29 30-39 40-49 50+ male female

  9. Break and Enter – non-dwelling Premises type

  10. Break and Enter – dwelling by day of week, 2002 16.4 18.0 14.7 14.5 14.1 13.9 13.8 16.0 12.6 14.0 12.0 10.0 % 8.0 6.0 4.0 2.0 0.0 Friday Sunday Monday Tuesday Saturday Thursday Wednesday

  11. Crime Victim Surveys • Survey of community member’s experience of crime Advantages: • Estimates the true level of crime • Calculates the proportion of unreported crime • Can compare Australian crime rates with OS • Victim characteristics can be obtained • Informs about fear of crime Limitations: • Limited number of offences included • Offers no information about the offender

  12. 2003 Victim Survey results • Households % of Victims % reported • Break and enter 5.1% 72.2% • Motor vehicle theft 1.5% 93.8% • Persons • Robbery 0.8% 52.9% • Assault 3.5% 39 % • Sexual assault (females) 0.5% 21.0%

  13. 4.4 2.7 total Assault victimisation rate by age, 2003 male female 8.4 9 8 6.3 7 6 4.8 4.5 4.1 5 4 Percentage (%) 2.5 2.5 2.3 3 2.1 1.6 2 0.7 0.6 1 0 15-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65 and over

  14. 55 36 25 14 11 11 9 8 8 7 5 4 4 3 Relationship with offender in most recent assault incident, 2003 60 50 40 Percentage 30 20 10 0 Other Friend member Family Neighbour offender Didn't know colleague Work/study Acquaintance Male Female

  15. Household types with greater B+E risk • Areas where households more likely to be broken into • areas with more than 10% unemployment • areas with a large population of 15-24 year old males • cities or towns with populations over 8000 • Household types with greater B+E risk • one parent households v two parent households • person living alone v couple with children • houses next to lanes/bike paths v houses not • households on busy roads v households not

  16. Household types with reduced B+E risk • households with people aged over 55 less victimised • households over 100 metres from public facilities

  17. Perceptions of crime or public nuisance problems in neighbourhood Problem Main problem • No perceived problem 50.3% • Housebreaking 29.3% 14.5% • Dangerous/noisy driving 29.2% 9.5% • Vandalism/graffiti 25.7% 7.5% • Louts/Youth gangs 20.9% 5.3% • Illegal Drugs 14.2% 3.7% • Car theft 18.2% 2.3% • Drunkenness 15.6% 2.1%

  18. NSW Criminal Courts • Data collected on all NSW Local and Higher Court cases Advantages : • Provides detailed information on offenders: gender, age, residence, outcome, penalty • Figures are reliable Limitations: • How representative are offenders in Court? • May favour juveniles or the inexperienced • Many offences have very low clear up rates eg B&E, MVT 5% • Does not provide victim information • Figures can be affected by external factors eg cautioning

  19. Rate of appearance in Court by age, 2001 1200 1000 Female Male 800 Number per 10,000 pop 600 400 200 0 10-11 12-13 14-15 16-17 18-19 20-24 25-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60+ Age

  20. NSW Local Court Summary Statistics

  21. Sentencing in NSW Local Courts

  22. Outcome of charges in Higher Courts

  23. Sentencing drink-drivers: The use of dismissals and conditional discharges • In NSW, convictions for drink driving incur a mandatory period of licence disqualification • Licence disqualification, however, is avoided if no conviction is recorded against the defendant • In the past 10 years the percentage of PCA offenders not receiving a conviction has increased • Has this change been uniform across the State?

  24. Newcastle Gosford Belmont Toronto Lismore Raymond Terrace Tamworth Burwood North Sydney Court Coffs Harbour Tweed Heads Bankstown Campbelltown Liverpool Penrith Kempsey Windsor Nowra Wollongong NSW Court Average High range PCA dismissal/discharge by Local Court 2002 0 10 20 30 40 50 Percent dismissed/discharged

  25. Contact with the NSW Court System • 1.9% of all NSW residents aged 10+ • 5.1% of all NSW residents aged 20-24 • 8.4% of all male NSW residents aged 20-24 • 12.8% of all Indigenous NSW residents aged 10+ • 27.7% of all Indigenous NSW residents aged 20-24

  26. Frequency distribution of number of court appearances, 1997 - 2001 % with this number court appearances 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15+ No. of persons

  27. The Abolition of short sentences • Between 1996 and 2001 the NSW prison population increased by 19% • In 2001 a parliamentary committee recommended the abolition of sentences of 6 months or less • What impact would this have? • Reduce prison population by 10 percent • Reduce the flow of people into prison by 40 %, from 150 per week to 90 per week • Could save between $33 million and $47 million per annum

  28. Hung juries and aborted trials • One in six trials in NSW District Court fail to reach a conclusion because of a hung jury or aborted trial • Hung juries are more common among trials that: • last longer than three days; are heard in a metropolitan court; where no adjournment is sought • Trails are more likely to be aborted if they: • are held in Sydney; involve multiple offence counts; involve sex offences, violent offences or fraud; if there are multiple accused; if there is a voir dire; if the trial is a jury rather than a judge-alone trial; and if no bench warrant has been issued. • Reasons for aborting: • Evidence 43%, Juror 21%, Witness 11%, Case 7%, Accused 6%

  29. Reducing Juvenile Crime: Conferencing versus Court • Youth Justice Conferencing is effective in reducing juvenile crime • Compared 590 juveniles referred to YJC hem with 9,346 juveniles dealt with by the Children’s Court • The proportion of juveniles who re-offended was 28% lower for those who had been before a YJC. • The number of re-appearances in court was about 24% lower among those who had originally been referred to YJC. • Positive results also for Aboriginal juveniles

  30. The effectiveness and cost effectiveness of the NSW Drug Court • Drug Court participants (n=309) compared to control group (n=191) • Findings: • Drug Court participants took significantly longer than the control group to their first drug offence. Drug Court participants had lower rates of offending for most categories of offence. • The per day cost for an individual on the Drug Court ($143.87) was slightly less than the per day cost for offenders in prison ($151.72). • The main difference was in the cost-effectiveness of reducing the rate of offending. It cost nearly $5,000 more for each shop stealing offence averted using conventional sanctions, and additional $19,000 for each possess/use opiates offence averted, than it cost using the Drug Court program.

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