These fact sheets examine incidents recorded by police between 1 April 2018 and 31 March 2023, and their attrition through the Victorian criminal justice system. In the fact sheets we examine how attrition varies by offence type, and alleged offender sex, age, and Indigenous status.
In Fact 14 considers incidents by offence type and shows:
- 22% of all incidents in the study period ultimately led to an offender being identified, charged, and had charges proven in court.
- Attrition was highest during the police investigation stage, with 51% of all incidents ‘exiting’ without an offender being identified.
- For incidents where an offender was identified, 65% resulted in charges being laid.
- For incidents that progressed to court, 77% received a proven outcome.
- Drug offences were most likely to progress through each stage and had the highest overall proven charge rates (60%). Property and deception offences were least likely to progress and had the lowest overall proven charge rates (16%).
- This highlights the difference between crime types that are more likely to be detected by police in-situ, as opposed to victim reported crime types which often require further police investigation to identify an offender.
- High harm offence types (Homicide and Sexual Offences) had proven rates below that of all offences overall.
In Fact 15 considers alleged offender incidents by demographic characteristics:
- Incidents involving male alleged offenders were more likely than those involving female alleged offenders to be charged (66% compared to 60%) and progress to proven in court (50% compared to 41%)
- Aboriginal people had higher charge rates than non-Indigenous people (73% compared to 65%) and were also more likely to have charges finalised (67% compared to 60%) and proven in court (55% compared to 48%).
- Adult offenders were more likely to be charged compared to children (66% compared to 56%) and were almost twice as likely to have the charge proven (50% compared to 29%).
Attrition as a proportion of all police-recorded incidents, 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2023
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