NCJ Number
75033
Date Published
1980
Length
46 pages
Annotation
This statistical report on the state of crime and justice in South Australia during the second quarter of 1980 covers the activities of the police department, the supreme and district criminal courts, and the departments of corrections and public welfare.
Abstract
This is one of a series of periodic statistical reports intended to provide public officials with systematic and timely information for use in decisionmaking, and to enhance public awareness of crime and criminal policy issues. Although each section reflects the activities of one component of the South Australian criminal justice system, the tabular data for each do not purport to represent the flow of business through the entire system. For example, a number of offenses coming to the attention of the police will not lead to apprehension and court proceedings until after the period covered by this report. Moreover, accounting practices vary in different criminal justice sections: for example, the Police Department counts both rapes and attempted rapes together, whereas the courts count them separately. Court statistics are tabulated by such variables as offense type, case outcome, sentence, plea, and appeal. Correctional statistics include detainee and inmate populations, characteristics of persons taken into custody (new admissions), releasees, probationers, and parolees, as well as trends in offender characteristics. department of community welfare statistics reflect juvenile court intake, characteristics of juvenile offenders, case adjudications, and juvenile diversions. Trends in selected characteristics of juvenile offenders are included. Appendixes contain notes explaining statistical data and offense definitions according to the classification of offenses by the American Bureau of Statistics in cooperation with the State police force.