4517.0 - Prisoners in Australia, 2014 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 11/12/2014   
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SENTENCED PRISONERS

At 30 June 2014:

    • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sentenced prisoners accounted for 27% (6,874 prisoners) of all sentenced prisoners. (Table 8)

    • Four in five (81%) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prisoners sentenced in the previous 12 months had been imprisoned previously, compared to 59% of non-Indigenous prisoners. (Table 8)

    • The median aggregate sentence length for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prisoners was two years, compared to 3.3 years for non-Indigenous prisoners. The only offence for which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prisoners had a longer median aggregate sentence length than non-Indigenous prisoners was sexual assault (7.5 years compared to 7.0 years). (Table 10)

    • The median expected time to serve for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prisoners was 1.2 years, compared to two years for non-Indigenous prisoners. The only offence for which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prisoners had a longer median expected time to serve than non-Indigenous prisoners was sexual assault (5.2 years compared to 4.7 years). (Table 11)

    • The median aggregate sentence length for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sentenced prisoners was longest in South Australia (3.7 years) and shortest in the Northern Territory (1.2 years). (Table 24)

    • The median expected time to serve for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sentenced prisoners was longest in South Australia (2.8 years) and shortest in Queensland and the Northern Territory (both 1 year). (Table 26)