4513.0 - Criminal Courts, Australia, 2017-18 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 28/02/2019   
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IN THIS ISSUE


ABOUT THIS PUBLICATION

This publication presents nationally comparable statistics relating to defendants finalised in the criminal jurisdictions of the Higher (Supreme and Intermediate), Magistrates' and Children's Courts across Australia, for the period 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2018. Selected historical data are also included where available for 2010–11 to 2016–17. The statistics are based on administrative records held by state and territory courts agencies and describe the characteristics of defendants, including offences, case outcomes and sentences.


CHANGES IN THIS ISSUE

For ease of reading some offence names have been abbreviated throughout this publication.1

Information about rates of defendants finalised per 100,000 persons (aged 10 years and over) by Indigenous status are available for the first time in this issue (Table 15).2

A revised version of the National Offence Index (cat. no. 1234.0.55.001) was released in September 2018. This was applied to data in this publication, however there was minimal impact on the outputs.3

For clarity and ease of reading, definitions for method of finalisation and sentence type have been moved out of the main glossary and into the appendices containing the classifications for these data items (Appendix 2 and 3, respectively).

Experimental Family and Domestic Violence statistics

Experimental data about defendants finalised for at least one Family and Domestic Violence (FDV) offence are now available (for selected states and territories) for the All Courts level from 2017–18, and for selected court levels from 2015–16 and 2016–17.

Additional information relating to sentence data

Additional information relating to sentencing has been included in this issue in order to provide more context around the differing sentence practices across states and territories and the impact these can have on the comparability of the data presented.4

Revisions

Selected data for Victoria and Western Australia for 2016–17 have been revised within this publication. For more information, refer to the ‘State and Territory Specific Information’ section of the Explanatory Notes.


ROUNDING

Proportions and percentages cited in the publication text have been rounded up/down to the nearest whole number.

Footnotes

1 See Explanatory Note 17.
2 See Explanatory Notes 58–64.
3 See Downloads tab for more information.
4 See Explanatory Notes 34–51.