MOST SERIOUS OFFENCE/CHARGE

At 30 June 2013, the most common offences/charges for prisoners (either sentenced or unsentenced) were:

• acts intended to cause injury (20%)
• unlawful entry with intent, and illicit drug offences (both 12%)
• sexual assault (11%)
• robbery and extortion, and offences against justice procedures (both 10%).

Together, these offences/charges accounted for three quarters (75%) of all prisoners in 2013. (Table 1)

Sex

For male prisoners (either sentenced or unsentenced), the most common offences/charges were:

• acts intended to cause injury (21%)
• sexual assault, and unlawful entry with intent (both 12%).

For female prisoners (either sentenced or unsentenced), the most common offences/charges were:

• illicit drug offences (18%)
• acts intended to cause injury (17%)
• unlawful entry with intent, homicide, and offences against justice procedures (all 10%).

Age

Prisoners aged 25 to 34 years (10,920 persons or 35% of prisoners) accounted for the highest proportion of prisoners for the following offences/charges:

• prohibited and regulated weapons and explosives offences (47%)
• abduction, harassment and other offences against the person (44%)
• unlawful entry with intent (43%)
• theft (41%).

Prisoners aged 35 to 44 years accounted for the highest proportion of prisoners for homicide (29%) and sexual assault (25%).




The following graph shows that when comparing different offences across age groups:

• prisoners aged 55 years and over, and 45 to 54 years had a higher proportion of prisoners imprisoned for sexual assault than for any other age group (39% and 21% respectively)
• for each of the remaining age groups, acts intended to cause injury was the most common most serious offence/charge. (Table 5)