Tuesday 1 April 2014
Not good enough, Premier O'Farrell and Police Commissioner Scipione
Thursday 27 March 2014
In case your wondering how sexual assault breaks down by gender in Australia
is an act of a sexual nature carried out against a person's will through the use of physical force, intimidation or coercion, and includes any attempts to do this. This includes rape, attempted rape, aggravated sexual assault (assault with a weapon), indecent assault, penetration by objects, forced sexual activity that did not end in penetration and attempts to force a person into sexual activity. Incidents so defined would be an offence under State and Territory criminal law. Sexual assault excludes unwanted sexual touching - for the purposes of this survey, this is defined as Sexual Harassment. Sexual assault also excludes incidents of violence that occurred before the age of 15 - for the purposes of this survey, these are defined as Sexual Abuse. If a person experienced sexual assault and sexual threat in the same incident, this was counted once only as a sexual assault. If an incident of sexual assault also involved physical assault or threats, this was counted once only as a sexual assault.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics 2012 Personal Safety Survey revealed that 1,494,000 females and 336,000 males had experienced sexual assault since the age of fifteen.
The following infographics highlight some findings from this recently released survey. See the full report for more information.
Sunday 22 December 2013
2012-2013 crime statistics covering the NSW North Coast
NSW Recorded Crime Statistics: September 2013 Quarterly Report
Wednesday 28 August 2013
Clarence Valley property theft/robbery crime rate across last decade - a matter of averages
On 21 August 2013 The Daily Examiner trumpeted; The Clarence Valley has returned some of the worst crime statistics in regional NSW following a 10-year review into offending trends across the state…..In nearly every category, crimes in Clarence were declining at a far slower rate than in the rest of the state.
Comparing Clarence Valley property offense rates with the rest of regional New South Wales and the North Coast one finds that; falls in rates of this offence in the Murrumbidgee, Northern, Far West and Murray SD ranged between 11.5 and 32.8 per cent and the Northern SD experienced a 15.8 per cent increase in the rate of motor vehicle theft.
Wednesday 17 July 2013
The sad statistics of murder on Australia
There were 3,150 homicide incidents over the decade, averaging 315 per year, a figure that did not fluctuate much.
Just under two-thirds of all homicide incidents (60.2%) occurred in residential premises. Nearly half of all homicide incidents occurred on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, and over two-thirds of homicide incidents occurred between 6pm and 6am.
Eight out of 10 homicide incidents can be characterised as 'one-on-one' interactions between the victim and the offender, though there have been, on average, 15 multiple fatality incidents per year, resulting in approximately 39 victims per year.
There were 3,386 victims of homicide. Across the 10-year period, rates of victimisation have remained relatively constant, fluctuating between 1.7 and 2.0 per 100,000 population. Some 63.2% of victims were male and 36.8% were female. Females were killed at an average annual rate of 1.4 per 100,000 population, whereas males were killed at an average annual rate of 2.4 per 100,000 population. There has been a stable pattern of gender differentiation, with a ratio of 3 males killed for every 2 females. Male victims were more likely to have been single at the time of the incident, whereas female victims were more likely to have been married or living in a de facto relationship. Females were more likely to be killed as a result of a domestic altercation, although this proportion has declined in recent years. Males were more likely to be killed following an alcohol-related argument.
Victims of homicide were more likely to be killed with a knife or other sharp instrument than any other weapon. There was a declining trend in the proportion of victims killed with a firearm, with an average of 81 victims killed per year with a firearm.
The highest age-specific victimisation rate for females was for children less than one year of age (average rate of 2.6), whereas the highest victimisation rate for males was for young men between the ages of 24 and 26 years (average rate of 4.3). Indigenous persons were on average 8.1 times more likely to be victims of homicide than non-Indigenous persons.
Approximately 9% of all homicide victims were aged under 15, and this proportion has remained quite stable each year since 1989. Biological parents, usually the mother, were responsible for a majority of child killings in Australia. Very rarely are children killed by a stranger.
There were 3,481 offenders of homicide - 87.2% were male and 12.8% were female. Males consistently exhibited higher rates of offending than females, with a ratio of about 7:1. The median age of male offenders was 27 years and the median age for female offenders was 29 years. Male offenders were more likely to be single, whereas female offenders were more likely to be married or living in a de facto relationship at the time of the incident.
Between 1996-97 and 1998-99, just under 2 out of 5 male offenders and just over 1 out of 5 female offenders were under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident. Approximately 6% of homicide offenders in Australia committed suicide during or following the homicide incident.
Eight out of 10 homicides occurred between people who were known to one another. Females were more likely to be killed by an intimate partner, whereas males were more likely to be killed by a friend or acquaintance, but under 2 out of 10 homicides occurred between strangers. Approximately 13% of all homicide incidents occur in the course of other crime, such as robbery and sexual assault. One in 10 homicide incidents occurred in the course of robbery, and 3.7% occurred in the course of sexual assault. This relatively low rate of homicides committed in the course of another crime is a factor which differentiates Australia's homicide rates from those of many other countries.
While only 13% of homicides were committed by females, women who kill tend to kill men. Women are more likely to kill (in descending order of frequency) husbands, ex-husbands, de facto partners, and lovers, followed by children and other relatives. Very few women kill strangers.
In Australia, between 1 July 1989 and 30 June 1999 there were 13 mass-murder incidents (where the number of victims was 4 or more), resulting in the death of 94 persons, though in the two most recent years of the century Australia recorded no mass-murder incidents.
Understanding homicide involves some fundamental neurological and sociological risk factors. Looking across many nations, from a policy point of view things like expanding the number of police, giving them better technology, setting longer prison sentences, imposing or abolishing the death penalty have had no effect on the homicide rate, which has remained fairly constant in most countries (Mouzos 2000).
Sunday 10 March 2013
Who said what in the current Australian gun crime debate
Addressing a Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) conference in Sydney, Mr Smith said the problem of drive-by shootings was “smaller now than it was in 2001”.
However, he conceded the coalition government had not yet been able to fully combat it across western Sydney.
“It’s of great concern and we still have a long way to go in bringing it fully under control,” Mr Smith told the conference.
The comments come after a wave of shootings in the city’s west that have forced NSW police to establish Operation Apollo, a special strike force targeting gun crime.
Ms Gillard said: ''When we look at the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, we see that, over the past 15 years, shootings in public places have soared.''
NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research Media Release 6 March 2013:
Wednesday 12 September 2012
Crime statistics and the NSW North Coast, June 2012
- Richmond-Tweed: Steal from retail store (up 12.7%) and steal from person (up 35.7%)
- Mid-North Coast: Robbery with a weapon not a firearm (up 88.9%) [These regional percentage figures in point form cover the 24 months to June 2012 and are taken from a 6 September 2012 media release]
Thursday 9 August 2012
From Teh Book Of Little Known Aussie FAQS
The NSW Inmate Census 2011 revealed that only 7% of the state’s 10,068 strong prison population is female – that’s only 703 inmates, with just one in maximum security, none under 18 years of age and 203 of these women in the system had yet to be sentenced by the courts when the census was taken.
Does this mean the average Aussie sheila is a lot more law-abiding than her bloke?
Grab a few tinnies and argue it out among yourselves fellas - but quietly and as far away from your better halves as you can get.
Thursday 7 June 2012
When it comes to the crime of murder, don't believe everything you read in NSW North Coast newspapers
On 2 June 2012 The Northern Star and The Daily Examiner online trumpeted that:
But statistics obtained from the state homicide squad have revealed the strip between Newcastle and the Queensland border had the second highest number of murders in the state last year, even as NSW topped the nation for the number of people murdered.
The Northern Star spoke to police in every state and confirmed that the NSW northern region was the regional murder capital of Australia.
Of the 84 murders across NSW in 2011, 20 were in the Northern Region police command, which runs from north of Newcastle to the border....
The state had 15 more murders than in 2010....
The Northern Rivers where these two APN daily newspapers circulate is traditionally thought to include Bellingen, Coffs Harbour, Clarence Valley, Richmond Valley, Lismore, Ballina, Kyogle, Byron and Tweed local government areas only.
One interesting fact remains unreported entirely. Since 1990 the number of NSW murder victims has been steadily falling, so that in 2011 there were 42 fewer recorded victims compared with 1990.
* Murder is defined in s 18(1)(a) of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) in the following terms:
“Murder shall be taken to have been committed where the act of the accused, or thing by him or her omitted to be done, causing the death charged, was done or omitted with reckless indifference to human life, or with intent to kill or inflict grievous bodily harm upon some person, or done in an attempt to commit, or during or immediately after the commission, by the accused, or some accomplice with him or her, of a crime punishable by imprisonment for life or for 25 years.”
Sunday 22 April 2012
Dodgy $20 notes doing the rounds in Lismore area
“Detectives on the state’s north coast are conducting inquiries after a number of fake $20 notes were found in circulation in the Lismore area.
Thursday 19 April 2012
The NSW North Coast scores a pass mark when it comes to crimes involving firearms - but not so good with murder
Wednesday 4 April 2012
Oopps! Another banana skin for the unwary Australian politician
Sunday 18 March 2012
For all those rabid rednecks baying to the moon about Laura Norder in NSW
A little reminder to the lock 'em up and throw away the key mob fronting the bar at the Bowlo most weeks:
The effect of arrest and imprisonment on crime
Release date: Tuesday, 13 March 2012 Embargo: 10.30am
Increasing the risk of arrest and the probability of imprisonment are much more effective in preventing property and violent crime than increasing the length of prison terms, according to a new study of the effectiveness of the criminal justice system in controlling crime, released today by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research. The study is one of the most comprehensive ever carried out in Australia into the effectiveness of the criminal justice system in controlling crime. It examined the effect of changes in the probability of arrest, the probability of imprisonment and the length of the average prison term on trends in property and violent crime across every Local Government Area (LGA) in NSW between 1996 and 2008. Special measures were taken to control for other factors that influence crime, such as household income and drug use. The study also controlled for the effect of crime on the criminal justice system. The Bureau found that a 10 per cent increase in the risk of arrest in the long run produces a 1.35 per cent reduction in property crime, while a 10 per cent increase in the imprisonment risk produces a 1.15 per cent reduction in property crime. Similarly, in the long run, a 10 per cent increase in the risk of arrest for violent crime produces a 2.97 per cent reduction in violent crime, while a 10 per cent increase in the risk of imprisonment produces a 1.7 per cent reduction in violent crime. Although increasing the risk of arrest appears to exert a stronger effect on property and violent crime than increasing the risk of imprisonment, the differences were not found to be statistically significant. Arrest and imprisonment, however, were found to exert significantly stronger effects on violent crime than on property crime. A 10 per cent increase in the risk of arrest in the long run produces a 2.97 per cent reduction in violent crime, compared with a fall of only 1.35 per cent reduction in property crime. Similarly, a 10 per cent increase in the imprisonment risk reduces violent crime by 1.7 per cent compared with a 1.2 per cent reduction in property crime. The stronger effect for violent crime may be at least partly due to the higher risk of arrest for violent crime relative to property crime. The 30 day clear-up rate for non-domestic assault, for example, is 21.7 per cent, compared with 3.7 per cent for burglary. Interestingly, the study found that household income exerted a much stronger effect on crime than the criminal justice system. A 10 per cent increase in household income was estimated to produce an 18.9 per cent reduction in property crime over the long term and a 14.6 per cent reduction in violent crime. The effect of income on property crime is more than 14 times larger than the effect of arrest, while its effect on violent crime is nearly five times larger. Commenting on the findings, the Director of the Bureau, Dr Don Weatherburn, said that they were very reassuring given that Australia currently spends more than $11.5 billion annually on law and order. In per capita terms, this amounts to $511.00 per person per annum. “At the same time, it is important to bear in mind that the study did not examine the cost-effectiveness of current policy in controlling crime.” “Overseas research suggests that it is possible in some circumstances to cut crime and spend less doing it than we currently spend locking people up. The NSW Drug Court is a good example.” Further enquiries: Dr Don Weatherburn, 9231-9190
The study
Monday 3 October 2011
New ICAC investigation begins this week with a focus on state and local councils - including Ballina and Byron shire councils
Persons claiming to be substantially and directly interested in this matter may seek leave to be represented at the inquiry, and are invited to contact Cassie Lee on (02) 8281-5999 to advise of their interest.
Solicitor to the Commission
Wednesday 7 September 2011
Catholic Church accused of still hiding child abuse - why am I not surprised?
The accusations and excuses then..
"Claims by Salesian old boys that they were sexually brutalised by a few priests and brothers have rocked the order and sent the Australian leadership into a bunker.
Apart from a brief statement by the order's head, Father Ian Murdoch - who negotiated a number of financial settlements with alleged sex abuse victims
- there has been no comment from the Salesians.
Roy was paid $45,000 in 2000 from the Salesians for alleged sexual abuse by Ayers. The Salesians denied liability.
Ayers is now seriously ill and reportedly dying in Samoa, where the Salesians sent him allegedly after
he was accused of abusing children."
{The Age 3rd July 2004}
"Mr Jones became the face of disgruntled victims this week when it was revealed that Cardinal Pell had falsely told him a church investigator dismissed his sexual assault claim against Father Terence Goodall, and that there had been no other victims...
Cardinal Pell called it an "innocent error" and formed
a panel to review the case"
{The Sydney Morning Herald 12th July 2008}
The accusations and excuses now..
"A LEADING child protection expert has urged the Victorian government to hold a public inquiry into the handling of child-sex cases by a religious order after the Catholic Church suppressed a report it asked him
to write.
Sydney University law professor Patrick Parkinson yesterday wrote to Victorian Attorney-General
Robert Clark and Police Minister Peter Ryan seeking
an inquiry into the behaviour of the Salesians of Don Bosco.
In his letter, Professor Parkinson says the Catholic Church's actions have cast doubt on its commitment
to protect children before it protects itself."
{The Age 30th August 2011
"POLICE ditched an investigation into a Catholic
priest {Fr Jack Ayers}accused of abusing Victorian schoolchildren because they considered him too old
to bring to justice.
Victorian detectives have also not interviewed a second Salesian priest who is working at the order's headquarters near the Vatican, despite a fresh abuse complaint being made against him more than a year ago.
An eight-month Herald Sun investigation has discovered alarming claims that authorities failed to properly act on complaints of sexual abuse within the Salesian order.
Click here to see priests in the Salesian shame file
{The Herald-Sun 5th September 2011}
Sunday 24 April 2011
Some good news for NSW Police after Yamba debacle
On 20 April 2011 The Daily Examiner ran with Yamba riot police inquiry launched which confirmed that the NSW Police Commissioner had instigated an investigation into how the police brief was prepared for use by the public prosecution team.
So it was perhaps fortunate that the day before the NSW Police media unit had released the latest Bureau of Crime Statistics (BOCSAR) figures indicating major categories of crime are at their lowest rate for 20 years.
Comparing 10 main crime categories from 1990 to 2010, BOCSAR has found the murder rate has halved while robbery with a firearm has fallen 66 per cent.
In other trends,
· Motor vehicle theft is down 70 per cent
· Break and enters (non-dwelling) is down 62 per cent
· Break and enters (dwelling) is down 43 per cent
· Robbery with a weapon (not firearm) is down 23 per cent
· Robbery without a weapon is down by five per cent…..
a 14 per cent reduction in assaults in New South Wales in the past two years…..
a 27 per cent reduction in ‘glassings’ in licensed premises during the same period.....
in the 24 months to December 2010, all major categories of crime in New South Wales are either stable or falling.
They include:
· Robbery with a weapon not a firearm: down 11 per cent
· Robbery without a weapon: down 6.9 per cent
· Break and enter (non-dwelling): down 11.4 per cent
· Steal from person: down 10.6 per cent
· Malicious damage to property: down 10.1 per cent
· Motor vehicle theft: down 9.3 per cent
· Steal from motor vehicle: down 4.8 per cent…..
The BOCSAR website is now interactive and you can compile your own statistical sets here for the area in which you live.
Wednesday 6 April 2011
A matter of emphasis or ignoring all but the dog whistle?
The Daily Telegraph by virtue of its claim on 4 April 2011 that it had gained exclusive access to the institute's landmark report (despite the fact that the AIC had published the same on its official website) stands out in reporting this matter.
This newspaper makes much of fraud by welfare recipients and really only briefly addresses fraud by crooked public servants. News Limited journalists appearing more interested in theft of office products such as printer toner and photocopying paper, rather than other forms of public service fraud which are more dangerous to Australian citizens. Indeed this newspaper goes so far as to lump the $600 million total in fraud against the Commonwealth into the welfare and other government payments category, almost inviting readers to erroneously suppose social security fraud actually reached this amount in the reporting period. When it comes to financial fraud, the fact that in excess of $2,970,000 was recovered from public service employees perpetrating entitlement and financial fraud is virtually ignored, along with the fact that losses totalled over and above recovered amounts totalled $2.8 million and that many of those employees found defrauding the Commonwealth were not sacked.
What is made apparent in this AIC report (and not rated as worth a mention by journalists) is that internal fraud by public service employees:
a) is under-reported because the department/agency involved frequently decides to redefine fraudulent activity as procedural incidents which are not included in information supplied to the Commonwealth and there is little in the way of internal incident compilations which would assist in identifying fraud over time or the financial cost of this fraud;
b) much of the identified fraud involves improperly accessing personal information about others;
c) at least 3,171 public service employees were suspected of fraud in 2008-09; and
d) of these suspects 1,842 were classified as improperly accessing information and 203 were involved in corruption (including abuse of power, accepting bribes/kickbacks and collusion/conspiracy).
Given these facts, one might have hoped for a more comprehensive media analysis on the subject of fraud against the Commonwealth.
Excerpts from the AIC report:
# Overall in 2008–09, internal fraud was found to be a more significant risk to Australian Government agencies, with 48 agencies (32%) experiencing internal fraud and 45 agencies (30%) experiencing external fraud. In terms of the number of fraud incidents, however, considerably more incidents related to external fraud (n=797,327) than internal fraud (n=3,371). Yet while external fraud affected more agencies generally, the fraud types that resulted in the most incidents tended to be specific to only a small number of agencies. Of the two external fraud types that produced the largest number of incidents—‘fraud relating to social security’ and ‘fraud relating to visas and citizenship’—these were reported by only two agencies each. While total incident numbers were substantially lower, this pattern was also true for internal fraud, where the most frequent incident type—‘obtaining or using personal information without authorisation’—affected just seven agencies.
# fraud involving obtaining or using personal information without authorisation accounted for 44 percent of all internal fraud reports (n=1,481 out of 3,371 reported incidents).
# Internal fraud involving ‘accessing information via a computer without authorisation’ was reported by 17 agencies.
Click on image to enlarge
# In the 2008–09 financial year, Centrelink conducted nearly 3.9 million entitlement reviews that resulted in 641,504 payments being cancelled or reduced and generating customer debts totalling $536.2m (Centrelink 2009).