BOCSAR Releases Quarterly Update on NSW Custody Statistics for 2017

Wednesday 31 January 2018 @ 10.26 a.m. | Crime | Legal Research

The NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) has released a quarterly report on custody statistics within NSW, finding that the NSW prison population grew only marginally over the course of 2017.

Findings

The report found that NSW prison population growth has slowed in the past 12 months, growing by just 0.7 percent in the last 12 months. This growth is marginal in comparison to previous years, with prison population in NSW having grown by almost 33 percent between December 2011 and December 2016. The adult prison population of NSW in December 2017 was 12,989 prisoners. 

BOCSAR Executive Director Dr Don Weatherburn noted that the prison population in NSW would have continued to increase, but for the fact that there was a large increase in the number of offenders released on parole in 2017. He stated in a media release:

“Between 2014 and 2017, the average monthly number of offenders released on parole increased by 35 per cent, from 504 to 682 offenders.”

Dr Weatherburn also noted that the figures could be linked to a decrease in the number of people being arrested, with only 234,000 people being arrested in 2017. In comparison, in 2016, 253,000 people were arrested. Regarding this decrease in arrests,Dr Weatherburn noted:

“Normally at this time of year you would have a big surge ... with an increase in the number of domestic violence and assault arrests over Christmas, but also because when the courts close down there is usually an increase in the remand population, which we don't seem to have seen.” 

The data in the report was extracted from the Corrective Services NSW Offender Integrated Management System and the Juvenile Justice NSW Client Information Management System.

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Sources:

[media release] ‘NSW Custody Statistics: Quarterly Update December 2017,’ BOCSAR, 30 January 2018.

[report] ‘New South Wales Custody Statistics Quarterly Update December 2017.’

Lucy Cormack, ‘NSW prison populations plateau in 2017, BOCSAR statistics show,’ The Brisbane Times, 30 January 2018.

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