Lowest number of offenders in 16 years

Media Release
Cite
Print
Released
6/03/2025
Source
Recorded Crime - Offenders, 2023-24 financial year

The number of offenders proceeded against by police in 2023-24 fell to its lowest level since the time series began in 2008-09, according to the latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Samantha Hall, ABS head of crime and justice statistics, said: "There were 340,681 offenders in Australia in 2023-24, a fall of 2 per cent from the previous year.

“Accounting for population growth, 2023-24 marked the lowest offender rate since we started collecting this data in 2008-09. The rate is now down to 1,430 offenders per 100,000 people. This was largely due to a fall in illicit drug and public order offences, with both categories reaching record lows for the time series.

“Illicit drug offending has generally been falling over the last eight years with the offender rate at 202 offenders per 100,000 people in 2023-24 versus 399 offenders per 100,000 people in 2015-16.”

The largest falls in illicit drug offenders since the previous year were in New South Wales (-2,287 offenders) and Queensland (-1,666 offenders). While the largest public order offender falls were in New South Wales (-1,686 offenders), Victoria (-1,442 offenders) and Queensland (-1,157 offenders).

Despite the overall fall in offenders, family and domestic violence related offenders rose to 90,697 offenders in 2023-24, up 3 percent since 2022-23. This was driven by a rise in assault, which went up by 4 percent from 2022-23.

Further details can be found in Recorded Crime – Offenders 2023-24 available as a free download from the ABS website www.abs.gov.au.

Media notes

  • Illicit drug offences relate to the possessing, selling, dealing or trafficking, importing or exporting, manufacturing or cultivating of drugs or other substances prohibited under legislation. 
  • Public order offences are offences relating to personal conduct that involves, or may lead to, a breach of public order or decency, or that is indicative of criminal intent, or that is otherwise regulated or prohibited on moral or ethical grounds. In general, these offences do not involve a specific victim or victims; however some offences, such as offensive language and offensive behaviour, may be directed towards a single victim.
  • The national FDV offender time series began in 2019-20. 
  • When reporting ABS data you must attribute the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or the ABS) as the source.
  • For media requests and interviews, contact the ABS Media Team on 1300 175 070 or media@abs.gov.au (monitored 9am-5pm Canberra time, Monday-Friday).
  • Watch our data crash course, designed especially for journalists to learn how to find, download and interpret our data.
  • Subscribe to our media release notification service to get notified of ABS media releases or publications on their release.