Criminal Justice

Editor: Justin Healey
ISBN 978 1 920801 42 7
Year 2006

Price: $20.95

  

Criminal Justice
Volume 232, Issues in Society

The effects of criminal activity, even people’s perceptions and fears of crime, are issues which impact directly and indirectly on all Australians. Are crime rates rising? Who are the victims and offenders? What are the most effective ways to prevent crime and punish offenders? This book provides a brief overview of the criminal justice system in Australia. Proposed issues for analysis and discussion in this book include: crime rates; policing and crime prevention; sentencing; corrections (detention rates, alternatives to prison and rehabilitation); property crime; fraud; drugs and alcohol; use of weapons; homicide; cybercrime; young offenders; and indigenous justice issues.

Chapter 1  Crime Prevention and Policing
Murders and thefts fall to historic low; Definition of crime; Determinants of crime; Recorded crime – victims; Approaches to understanding crime prevention; The capacity of the criminal justice system to prevent crime; The rising crime rate can be lowered if we put more police in effective roles; The current state of law and order in Australia: not as simple as it seems; Find ’em, catch ’em, put ’em in prison: how to reduce the crime rate; Crime statistics, crime waves and taking crime seriously.

Chapter 2 Courts and Corrections
The criminal justice system; Flows through the criminal justice system; Critics are without a case on sentence severity; Courts in need of public scrutiny, top judge says Criminal courts in Australia; Drug courts: Australian responses to illicit drugs; Types of penalties; Tough line on crime fills jails; Prisoners in Australia; Price of crime without doing time; Restorative justice as a crime prevention measure; Alternatives to custody.

Glossary; Facts and Figures; Additional Resources; Index



FAST FACTS from this volume
  • The number of people being murdered in Australia has fallen to its lowest level since national crime statistics were first recorded more than a decade ago. A total of 256 murders were committed across the nation in 2004, a 15% decline in 12 months and fewer than in any year since 1993.
  • Robbery decreased by 16% and unlawful entry with intent decreased by 13% in 2004 compared to 2003. Other offence categories to record a decrease in the number of victims included other theft (12%), motor vehicle theft (11%) and blackmail/extortion (4%). Victims of homicide and related offences decreased by 19% and victims of kidnapping/abduction increased by 11%. However, for both of these crimes, small numbers are recorded and they are therefore subject to greater variation from year to year than other offence categories.
  • Other theft (which includes theft from persons, retail premises and motor vehicles) continues to be numerically the largest offence category. In 2004 there were 547,800 recorded victims of other theft, a decrease of just over 76,000 since 2003.
  • In 2004, the victimisation rates for unlawful entry with intent (1,534 per 100,000 population), motor vehicle theft (437 per 100,000 population) and homicide and related offences (4 per 100,000 population) were the lowest since national reporting began in 1993. The victimisation rates for robbery (82 per 100,000 population) and other theft (2,724 per 100,000 population) were the lowest since 1996.
  • In 2004, approximately two-thirds of the investigations into murder (65%), attempted murder (64%) and driving causing death (62%) had been finalised within 30 days after a victim became known to police. The lowest proportions of finalisations at 30 days were for victims of unlawful entry with intent (8%), motor vehicle theft (11%) and other theft (14%).
  • In 2004, a weapon was most likely to have been used in attempted murder (73%) and murder (59%). A knife was the most common type of weapon used and was involved in 32% of attempted murders, 28% of murders, 18% of robberies and 6% of kidnappings/abductions. A firearm was involved in 23% of attempted murders, 13% of murders, 5% of robberies and 2% of kidnappings/abductions.
  • In the mid-1960s, Australia locked up approximately 120 people for every 1,000 serious crimes that were committed, but by the 1980s, this figure had fallen to fewer than 30, and it has stayed around this level ever since. Between 1964 and 1986, when the number of serious crimes per head of population increased from 596 to 2,553 per 100,000, the number of prisoners per 100,000 population actually decreased, from 72 to 69.
  • The criminal justice system consists of the state/territory and Australian Government institutions, agencies, departments and personnel responsible for dealing with the justice aspects of crime, victims of crime, persons accused or convicted of committing a crime, and related issues and processes.
  • The states and territories have independent legislative powers in relation to all matters that are not otherwise specifically vested in the Commonwealth of Australia. It is the statute law and the common law of the states and territories that primarily govern the day-to-day lives of most Australians.
  • The eight states and territories have powers to enact their own criminal laws, while the Commonwealth has powers to enact laws, including sanctions for criminal offences, in relation to its responsibilities under the Constitution. Thus there are nine different systems of criminal law in Australia.
  • The number of inmates in Australia has risen by an average 5% a year since 1984 – from 86 to 153 per 100,000 people. The biggest increase has been in remanded prisoners, which rose from 12 to 21% of the 23,555 prisoners in custody on June 30, 2003. Indigenous Australians remain grossly over-represented, with a rate of imprisonment 13 times higher than the non-Indigenous population – 1710 per 100,000 compared to 124.
  • Between 1981 and 2003 the overall incarceration rate for juvenile offenders declined by 57 per cent – from 65 to 28 per 100,000. At 321 per 100,000, the rate of Indigenous inmates was 20 times higher than the rate for non-Indigenous juveniles (16 per 100,000), but even so there has been a 31% decline in the Indigenous juvenile rate since a high of 468 per 100,000 in March 1997.
  • There were 24,171 prisoners in Australia on 30 June 2004, an increase of 3% on the 23,555 prisoners at 30 June 2003. The imprisonment rate of 157 prisoners per 100,000 adult population represents a 1% increase on the rate of 155 prisoners per 100,000 adult population in 2003.
  • The prisoner population has increased by 43% since 1994. This increase has exceeded the 15% growth in the Australian adult population, resulting in the adult imprisonment rate increasing from 127 to 157 prisoners per 100,000 adult population between 1994 and 2004.