Crime and Justice Statistics 1995 - Media Release

CRIME AND JUSTICE STATISTICS 1995 -

Friday, January 10, 1997
Embargoed till 10 am.

The Crime Research Centre at the University of WA today released its annual statistical report Crime and Justice Statistics for Western Australia: 1995. The Report draws together available statistics on crimes reported to police, police arrests and juvenile cautions, Higher Court and Children's Court activity, imprisonment and community corrections for the period of 1 January - 31 December 1995.

Highlights of the report are:

- A total of 281,049 offences were reported to police in 1995, an increase of 8.1% over 1994 figures. There was an increase of 9.8% in the rate of violent offences reported to police and an increase of 6.1% in the rate of reported property offences. Rates of reported crime increased for almost all offence types. Since 1991, the rate of robbery (armed and unarmed) reported to police has almost doubled, increasing from 46.8 to 78.3 per 100,000 residents.

- Based on National Crime Statistics compiled by the ABS, Western Australia continued to record the highest rates of reported burglary and motor vehicle theft in Australia, however, the WA robbery rate was lower than the national average. About ten in every 1,000 Western Australians reported a vehicle stolen in 1995 and about 35 in every 1,000 WA homes were reported targets of burglary or attempted burglary. The homicide rate was slightly lower in 1995 (4.1 per 100,000 persons) than in 1994 (4.5 per 100,000), with no signs of an increasing trend when viewed in the long term.

- There was a decline in the number juveniles arrested by the police during 1995. This decline followed the introduction of the Young Offenders Act in March 1995 and the formalisation of diversionary processes such as the use of Juvenile Justice Teams and police cautions.

- In line with the reductions in juvenile arrests, juvenile court appearances also fell in 1995. The number of individuals dealt with by the Children's Court has fallen by more than 57% since 1990. However, the proportion of juveniles sentenced to detention has increased from 3.2% in 1990 to 5.5% in 1995, suggesting that while many less serious offenders have been diverted from the Courts (through cautions or Team referrals, for example), the more serious offenders remain and are being dealt with more severely.

- Juvenile detention rates for 1995 show that the Western Australian rate was one of the highest in the nation (50.5 per 100,000 persons) and 1.3 times higher than the national average.

- In the District and Supreme Courts, the volume of charges and persons dealt with has increased. Not guilty pleas have increased since 1991 and account for more than a third of all pleas entered. The conviction rate has fallen slightly over the same period but remains high at about 80%. However, conviction rates vary with offence type. The use of imprisonment has increased since 1990 and remains the most common sanction used by the Higher Courts. In 1995 more than 70% of convicted charges resulted in a prison sentence. Since 1993, median sentence lengths have increased substantially for some offences, particularly homicide offences.

- Prison receivals fell by 23% between 1994 and 1995, as a result of significant declines in the number of prisoners serving time for non-payment of fines. This follows the introduction of the Fines, Penalties and Infringement Notices Enforcement Act 1995, which introduced a range of measures, including the suspension of a person's motor drivers licence, to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of fines collection.

- However, despite the decline in the number of offenders flowing into prison, the 'stock' of prisoners in Western Australian gaols increased in 1995 to reach record levels. This is most likely the result of a reduction in high-turnover, short-term prisoners (typically, fine defaulters) combined with an increase in prisoners serving longer sentences.

- WA ranks second to the Northern Territory in rates of adult imprisonment but far exceeds the NT and all other States in Aboriginal rates of imprisonment. The Australian average daily adult imprisonment rates is about 117 per 100,000 persons, while the WA rate is almost 45% higher at 170 per 100,000 persons