Crime, court appearances continue to fall

The number of people being prosecuted and sentenced in court has continued to decline in 2011, new statistics released by the Ministry of Justice show.

Justice Minister Judith Collins says the numbers, which are published annually on the Statistics New Zealand website, show progress is already being made towards the better public services targets of reducing total crime, violent crime, youth crime and reoffending.

“This decline is widespread, across a range of different measures, including both serious and violent offending,” Ms Collins says. “And the declines are forecast to continue with the Ministry of Justice projecting that the prison population will continue to drop over the medium term.”

The Statistical Bulletin Conviction and Sentencing in New Zealand 2011 provides an overview of charge, conviction and sentencing trends for adult offenders in New Zealand over the period and summarises key statistics for the 2011 calendar year.

The bulletin shows that the number of people prosecuted and convicted is falling across different types of offenders — there are fewer males and fewer females, and fewer of each major ethnicity group.

The figures also show that while the numbers appearing in court are declining, the rate of conviction is going up when compared with other outcomes such as diversion and ‘not proved’. Three-quarters of all charges laid ended in conviction in 2011.

“This shows that the charges being laid in court are appropriate with police concentrating on prevention and using their discretion to deal with less serious offences outside of the courts,” Ms Collins says. “The matters going to court, should be in court.”

Police apprehension statistics for 2011 show that 27 percent of adult (17 years and over) apprehensions resulted in a warning or caution last year rather than a charge laid, compared with 13 percent in 2007.