Australian Criminals - Crime Statistics

Crime Statistics

The Australian Institute of Criminology provides national statistics on crime in Australia. State police and justice departments also compile information on the patterns of regional crime.

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) shows that during the 2009/10 financial year police took action against 375,259 people, up by 4.8 per cent from 2008/09 figures. Young offenders aged 10 to 19, comprised about 29 percent of the total offender population across Australia.

In the 2009/10 financial year, 84,100 women had police action taken against them across Australia, up by six per cent compared with the previous year. 290,400 men had police action taken against them in 2009/10, an annual increase of 4 per cent. About 30 per cent of the women were accused of theft, whereas the most common principal offence for men was intention to cause injury and matters related to public order.

Research from the Australian Institute of Criminology, shows that from 1990 until the middle of 2011, 40 per cent of people who were fatally shot by police were suffering from a mental illness. In NSW, the fatalities included Adam Salter (shot dead in Sydney in 2009); Elijah Holcombe (shot dead in Armadale in 2009); and Roni Levi (shot dead on Bondi Beach in 1997). In Victoria, the fatalities included the 2008 highly controversial shooting death of Tyler Cassidy. At age 15, Cassidy is believed to be the youngest person ever shot dead by police in Australia.