Recidivism in Australia : findings and future research - Australian ...

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Recidivism in Australia: findings and future research
In addition to the prior imprisonment estimates, the DUCO juvenile study also examined
the retrospective self-reported offending history for a number of different offences in the six
months prior to detention. Table 11 presents some additional analyses of these data for five
selected offence types: vandalism, motor vehicle theft, break and enter, assault and robbery.
The results suggest that of the juvenile detainees:
•
•
more than two thirds had committed at least one of these offence types at a frequency
of once a month or more, while 57 percent were engaged at a frequency of once a week
or more
sixteen percent of juvenile detainees reported committing assault at a frequency of once
a week or more – this was the case for 30 percent of juveniles committing break and
enter offences.
Table 11: Self-reported offending in the six months prior to detention
Vandalism
Motor
vehicle
theft
Break and
enter
Nearly every day/every day 9 10 15 2 4 28
A few times a week 8 8 12 7 5 17
About a day a week 6 5 10 7 4 12
About monthly 7 8 11 12 6 12
Less than once a month 16 19 18 29 21 22
Not in the last six months 54 49 34 42 60 7
(n) 466 467 467 465 466 467
Note: The combined category is the maximum frequency reported across all offence types. Estimates exclude cases
with missing data
Source: AIC DUCO juvenile survey, 2004 [computer file]
Assault
Robbery
Combined