4500.0 - Crime and Justice News, Oct 1999  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 29/11/1999   
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NATIONAL CORRECTIVE SERVICES STATISTICAL UNIT (NCSSU)

Quarterly Custodial Collection

The June quarter 1999 issue of Corrective Services, Australia (ABS Cat. No. 4512.0) was released on 30 September 1999. In that quarter, the average daily number of prisoners in Australia was 20,504, an increase of 626 (3%) on the March quarter 1999. New South Wales and Western Australia made the greatest contributions to this increase, rising by 293 (4%) and 194 (7%) respectively.

On 1 June 1999 the highest number of Indigenous persons in prison custody was recorded in Queensland (1,100), followed by Western Australia (1,030) and the Northern Territory (492) (New South Wales did not supply information on Indigenous prisoners).

The highest ratio of Indigenous to non-Indigenous rates of imprisonment was recorded in Western Australia, which had an Indigenous rate of imprisonment 22 times the non-Indigenous rate.

In addition:

  • The average daily number of prisoners in Australia increased by 1,812 (10%) over the year from the June quarter 1998.
  • Between the March quarter 1999 and the June quarter 1999, the national imprisonment rate increased by 3%.


Community Based Corrections

The first production cycle of the new National Community-Based Corrections (CBC) collection is nearing completion, and will be published in the September quarter 1999 issue of Corrective Services Australia. Statistics to be published are for all offenders with active CBC orders on 1 April and 1 July 1999, and include information on sex, Indigenous status and the types of orders being served. The collection will be conducted on the first day of each quarter.


Prisoner Census

In June, the 1998 issue of Prisoners in Australia was released, containing the results of the National Prisoner Census. As well as continuing the series on characteristics of prisoners, it contained information on the country of birth of prisoners for the first time since the 1993 issue.

At 30 June 1998:
  • The average age of prisoners in Australia was 33 years, with half of all prisoners in Australia less than 30 years of age.
  • There were 15,072 (76%) prisoners who had been born in Australia.
  • More than half the prisoners (62%) were reported as having been previously imprisoned under sentence.
  • There were 17,118 prisoners (86%) serving a sentence. The remaining 2,788 (14%) prisoners were remanded in custody awaiting trial or sentence, or were being held under a deportation order.
  • Nearly half (48%) of all sentenced prisoners were convicted of offences involving violence or the threat of violence including: murder (7%), other homicide (3%), assault (12%), sex offences (13%), other offences against the person (1%) and robbery (13%).
  • The average aggregate sentence for prisoners was 4.6 years.
  • The average time spent in custody on remand in Australia was 4.2 months.
  • There were 3,750 Indigenous (Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander) prisoners, an increase of 165 (5%) compared to the previous year.

The results of the 1999 Prisoner Census will be released in March 2000, and will be published in the ABS format for the first time. A substantial revision of the collection is planned for the 2000 Census, as it has remained largely unchanged since its inception in 1982. This revision will be discussed by National Corrective Services Advisory Group members at the forthcoming Convention.