In March 2011 NSW court statistics were released for the previous year in the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research’s annual summary NEW SOUTH WALES CRIMINAL COURTS STATISTICS 2010.
It would appear that 89 per cent of those persons appearing as defendants before Local Courts in 2010 were found guilty of at least one criminal offence. In the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) subset a lower 87.8 per cent were found guilty.
Of those persons included in total conviction numbers only 7.2 per cent were imprisoned, but in the ATSI group a much higher 20.9 per cent were sent to gaol.
The average duration of imprisonment for offences with the highest imprisonment rates (that is breach of custodial order offences, unlawful entry with intent/burglary, motor vehicle theft and related offences) was 5.9 months for both groups.
In the higher courts 84.2 per cent of all defendants and 86.5 ASTI defendants were found guilty, with 7.9 per cent more indigenous persons sent to gaol. The average duration of imprisonment for offences with the highest imprisonment rates in the District and Supreme Courts was 30.9 months.
In all criminal courts defendants were less likely to receive a suspended sentence if they were identified as indigenous.
In the Children’s Court juvenile defendants were less likely to have charges dismissed with a caution and more likely to be placed under a control order if they were indigenous. Indigenous children were also slightly more often the subject of a probation order.
Across most of the principal criminal offences identified in the BOCSAR summary, the NSW Far and Mid North Coast had a higher conviction rate than the rest of New South Wales.
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