Australia Yearbook - 2001

Chapter 11—Crime and justice 469
11.26 CRIMINAL COURT CASES(a)(b), By Court Level—1998–99(b)
NSW Vic. Qld SA WA Tas. NT
Court level
’000 ’000 ’000 ’000 ’000 ’000 ’000 ’000 ’000
Supreme Court 0.7 0.5 1.4 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.3 0.3 4.9
District/County Court(c) 10.2 4.6 9.7 1.2 3.0 . . . . . . 28.7
Magistrate’s Court 467.1 579.0 359.9 205.0 198.5 16.6 19.3 12.0 1 857.5
Total 478.0 584.1 371.0 206.7 202.0 17.2 19.6 12.3 1 891.2
(a) Cases are defined as one defendant with one or more criminal matters before the courts or involving more than one defendant.
(b) Data include appeal and non-appeal cases. (c) The Northern Territory, the Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania do not
have District/County Courts.
Source: Steering Committee for the Review of Commonwealth/State Service Provision, Report on Government Services 2000.
ACT
Aust.
Total criminal cases
Table 11.26 shows the total number of criminal
cases handled in the courts of Australia, including
appeal and non-appeal cases. Of all the criminal
cases filed in Australia during 1998–99, 98% were
filed in the Magistrates’ Courts, with New South
Wales and Victoria contributing 56% to the
national total. A large proportion of cases in the
Magistrate’s Court in most States and Territories
are minor traffic matters.
Corrective services
Corrective services are responsible for
administering the penalties handed down by the
criminal courts which require some form of
supervision or custody of the offender. This may
include imprisonment on either a full or part-time
basis, community service and other forms of
supervised work, home detention or good
behaviour bonds under supervision. Most
persons for whom corrective services have
responsibility have received a sentence from a
criminal court, but some persons have been given
orders pending judgement or sentencing
(e.g. unsentenced prisoners).
All States and Territories operate prisons and
other types of corrective services. Separate
provisions exist in each State and Territory for
dealing with juvenile offenders. Convicted adult
prisoners from the Australian Capital Territory
serve their sentences in New South Wales
prisons, but local provision is made for the
custody of unsentenced prisoners and periodic
detainees, and for community corrections
(e.g. probation and parole). The Commonwealth
Government does not operate any prisons or
other corrective services, as federal offenders
(persons convicted of offences under
Commonwealth laws) are supervised by State
agencies for correctional purposes.
A number of jurisdictions have established
privately operated prison facilities. These prisons
operate in conjunction with State operated
prisons and are monitored by the Corrective
Services authorities in a similar manner to State
operated prisons.
In the Report on Government Services 2000,
Corrective Services comprise prisons, periodic
detention and community corrections.
Community corrections comprise home
detention, community service and supervision. In
1998–99, the total number of persons under the
authority of Corrective Services was 76,520, of
whom 55,253 were in community corrections and
21,267 were in prison or periodic detention
(table 11.27).
While the community based corrections system is
an important aspect of the corrective services
system, the following commentary focuses on
offenders in prisons.