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When using NSW Criminal Courts data it is important to know what specific words and phrases mean and what the counting unit is. Below are definitions and explanations of the criminal court terms used in BOCSAR's NSW Adult Criminal Sentencing Tool and publications. For further information, please contact us.
Whether a defendant has ever identified as being of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin. The status is determined by self-identification. This data is sourced from the latest version of BOCSAR's Reoffending Database (ROD) and applied to all years. ROD contains "Aboriginality ever recorded" which is set to 'Aboriginal' for any person who had identified as being of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin in their contact with Police in relation to any charges finalised since 1994. Note that separate figures are not available for Aboriginal defendants and Torres Strait Islander defendants.
A defendant's age is measured at the date of finalisation. Juveniles are aged 10 to 17 years at the time of finalisation; adults are aged 18 years and over at the time of finalisation.
Appeals (number and percentage) to the District Court are against conviction, severity or inadequacy of sentences imposed in the Local and Children's Courts and against AVOs granted or not granted by the Local and Children's Courts. Appeals by or against companies as well as persons are included.
AVOs are legal orders which aim to protect individuals from violence, threats and harassment. There are two types of AVOs: domestic and personal AVOs (ADVOs and APVOs respectively). ADVOs are made by the court to protect individuals from violence, threats and harassment from a spouse, de facto partner, ex-partner, family member, carer or person living in the same household. APVOs are orders made by the court to protect individuals from violence, threats and harassment from anyone who they are not in a domestic or family relationship with. BOCSAR's NSW Criminal Court report only counts final orders issued by the courts, not interim or provisional orders. AVO data are sourced from the NSW Police Computerised Operational Policing System (COPS).
A person who has been charged with an offence might be placed on bail conditions by the police or the Court. Not everyone charged is placed on bail conditions. The decision whether to place people on bail involves an assessment about risk that the person will:
A person may be released by police without bail, or have their bail 'dispensed with' by the Court. This means a decision has been made that the person does not need to be subject to any bail conditions in order to manage these risks. If a person is granted bail they have to attend court on a certain date. They might also have to comply with other conditions such as living at a certain address or reporting to the police. These conditions are imposed as a means of managing risk to an acceptable level. If a person is bail refused it means that the police or Court has determined that there is unacceptable risk in the person being in the community (or, put another way, that there are no conditions which could be put in place to mitigate that risk). They are held in custody (on 'remand') as their matter goes through the court process
If a person is 'granted bail', they are released into the community on the condition that they return to court on a certain date, alongside certain other conditions (for example, reporting to police intermittently).
| Bail condition | Description |
| Do not associate (or non-association condition) |
Accused must stay away from a person |
| Accommodation | Accused must live at a specific address |
| Report on bail | Accused must report regularly to police |
| Place restriction | Accused must stay away from an area |
| Curfew | Accused must obey a curfew |
| Security | Accused or another person must forfeit some money if the accused fails to appear in court |
| Enforcement | A bail condition to ensure adherence to other conditions e.g. answer door to check curfew compliance. An enforcement condition can only be applied for on the request of the prosecution and relates to enforcing compliance with other substantive conditions. It isn’t a stand-alone condition |
| Surrender passport | Accused must surrender their passport |
| Conduct: Other | Accused must comply with additional conduct requirement, such as complying with an AVO, not driving, not consuming alcohol etc. |
Refers to the bail status of the defendant at their final court appearance. Those remanded in custody are separated into 'bail refused', 'in custody for a prior offence' or 'Warrant executed – Police custody'. Corrective Services NSW and Juvenile Justice NSW custody data have been merged with court data to identify those persons who were 'bail refused', 'in custody for a prior offence' or 'Warrant executed – Police custody'. Those not in these groups were 'on bail' or 'bail dispensed with'.
In 2016 the bail category of 'Warrant executed – Police custody' was implemented. These are persons in Police custody prior to finalisation after having been arrested on a warrant. Generally these persons are in police custody for less than 24 hours before their court matter is finalised. Previously these persons were included in the 'Bail refused' category. This change affected Local and Children's Court data only as any instance of an arrest warrant being executed in the District or Supreme courts is followed by a bail determination prior to the finalising appearance. This change has been made to BOCSAR's criminal court data back to 2010. Prior to 2010, the 'Bail refused' data includes both persons refused bail by the court and persons in Police custody prior to finalisation after having been arrested on a warrant. The 'Bail refused' data in these tables is not directly comparable with 'Bail refused' data released in previous years.
If an accused person contravenes with the requirements of the bail acknowledgement, their bail could be revoked. The failure to comply with the bail conditions imposed by the court is referred to as a 'breach of bail'. It is important to note that breach of bail is not of itself a criminal offence (unless the breach of bail condition otherwise constitutes a new criminal offence). The bail tool captures bail breaches established in any NSW court, including the Local, Children's, District or Supreme Courts.
| Nature of breach | Bail condition breached | Description |
| Technical breaches | Report on bail | Accused failed to report regularly to police |
| Curfew | Accused failed to obey a curfew | |
| Residence | Accused failed to live at a specific address | |
| Place restriction | Accused failed to stay away from an area | |
| No contact – witness | Accused failed to stay away from a witness | |
| No contact – other | Accused failed to stay away from another person | |
| Travel restriction | Accused failed to obey travel restriction | |
| Drug/alcohol restriction | Accused failed to obey drug/alcohol restriction – i.e. not to consume drugs or alcohol | |
| New offence | New offence | Accused committed a new offence while on bail |
A charge refers to an instance of a particular type of offence being charged against a defendant. A finalised charge is one which has been fully determined by the court and for which no further court proceedings are required.
An outcome of criminal proceedings in which a court accepts that a charge is proven through a guilty plea entered by a defendant, found guilty by the court, and Higher Court outcomes where the court finds the act proven but the defendant not criminally responsible due to mental health or cognitive impairment. Proven charges also includes proven outcomes where no conviction is recorded.
A determination by the court that a defendant is not guilty of the charge (or charges) on the grounds that the charge has not been proven. This includes: (a) dismissal of charge(s) by a court on the grounds that the defendant is found not guilty, (b) dismissal by the lower courts by reason of mental health or cognitive impairment at the time the defendant committed the offence.
These are specific offences relating to offences against children under 16 years of age. Sexual offences against children is not a category within ANZSOC. These offences are also counted in the appropriate ANZSOC categories - sexual assault and non-assaultive sexual offence.
Cases normally appear before the Higher Courts following a committal process in the Local or Children's Courts. The committal process involves the prosecution certifying the charge against the accused, and a mandatory case conferencing between prosecution and defence. If the accused pleads guilty during the committal process, they may be committed for sentencing to a Higher Court. Alternatively, if the accused pleads not guilty, or reserves their defence, he or she is committed for trial. Cases which commence by ex officio indictment are included. Cases which do not proceed beyond committal are not included in BOCSAR's NSW Criminal Court report.
Commonwealth charges finalised in NSW criminal courts are included in BOCSAR reporting.
Where companies have been excluded, it is noted below the data table along with the number of excluded companies for each year.
Refers to the time taken to dispose of a group of charges against a person by defended and undefended hearings, and by bail status at final appearance. Court delay is usually shown as the median number of days taken at each stage of proceedings. For Higher Courts, the number and median delay for arrest to committal, committal to outcome, and outcome to sentence, are provided. For the Local and Children's Courts, the number and median delay for arrest to first appearance and first appearance to finalisation (determination), is provided. Note, medians cannot be added.
Sentences imposed on a defendant requiring a person to have restricted liberty for a specified period of time either through detainment in an institution/home. This includes the penalties of 'Imprisonment', 'Control order' and 'Periodic detention'.
A defendant against whom one or more criminal charges have been laid and which are heard together as one court appearance. Data in JusticeLink are case-based, with each case containing one or more charges against a single individual. When different charges within the same case are finalised on either the same or different dates in the same jurisdiction these are counted by BOCSAR as one finalised court appearance and therefore reported as one person. An individual may also be involved in multiple JusticeLink cases. "Individuals" are not identified in JusticeLink; they are identified by BOCSAR using Central Names Index (a Police-assigned identifier) and name matching algorithms. Only when multiple cases for an individual are finalised on the same date in the same jurisdiction are they counted by BOCSAR as one finalised court appearance and so reported as one person.
Those who, for at least one offence charged, either pleaded guilty, were found guilty ex parte, were found guilty after a defended hearing/trial or were found by the Higher Court to have a committed the act constituting the offence but were not criminally responsible due to mental health or cognitive impairment. Defendants with proven charges includes those with proven outcomes where no conviction is recorded.
Domestic violence offences are defined in the Crimes (Domestic and Personal Violence) Act 2007 and identified in three ways:
A finalised appearance is where all charges against a defendant that is being dealt with at the same time have been processed to completion within a court level. Where the defendant was proven guilty for at least one charge, a finalised appearance will also involve an imposition of penalty.
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This indicates the level of the court in which a defendant's case is heard. Court levels can be distinguished from one another on the basis of the extent of their legal powers. The court levels are Higher Court (District and Supreme Court), Local Court and Children's Court.
Sentences imposed on a defendant that do not involve being held in custody. This category includes: suspended sentences, intensive corrections orders, community supervision or work orders, fines, and other non-custodial orders.
Offence groups are based on the Australian Bureau of Statistics Australian and New Zealand Standard Offence Classification (ANZSOC), 2011 (Third edition) (cat. no. 1234.0). The tables in BOCSAR's NSW Criminal Court report show offences classified at ANZSOC division, subdivision and group levels. In this report, the ANZSOC group 'Breach of bond - probation' contains breaches of supervised bonds and as such is entitled 'Breach of bond - supervised'. The ANZSOC group 'Breach of bond - other' contains breaches of unsupervised bonds so is called 'Breach of bond - unsupervised'. 'Child sex offences' and 'Domestic violence offences' are not categories within ANZSOC. These offences are also counted in the appropriate ANZSOC categories. In addition, the ANZSOC group 'Exceed the prescribed content of alcohol or other substance limit' has been split into two categories 'Exceed the prescribed content of alcohol' and 'Exceed the prescribed content of illicit drugs'.
The way in which a defendant is completed as an item of business in a particular court level. A defendant is considered finalised when all charges against that defendant have been processed to completion within a court level. These are the possible outcomes:
The Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999, Children (Criminal Proceedings) Act 1987, Young Offenders Act 1997 and Commonwealth Crimes Act 1914 cover the penalties which may be imposed in NSW criminal courts.
Imprisonment/Prison: When sentencing an offender to imprisonment, the court sets a total term and may set a non-parole period. The non-parole period must not be less than three quarters of the total term unless there are special circumstances which the court must note. The court may decline to set a non-parole period, noting the reasons. For imprisonment sentences of six months or less, the court may not set a non-parole period. The mean durations shown in Table 1 of the NSW Criminal Court Report include only the non-parole period where a non-parole period has been specified and the total term where no non-parole period has been set. Cumulative terms of imprisonment are excluded from these tables. Where a cumulative term was imposed, only the non-parole period duration for the principal offence is shown. Note that a maximum of two years imprisonment can be imposed in the Local Courts for any one offence but the Local Court may impose a cumulative term of up to five years.
Aggregate Sentences of Imprisonment: From 14 March 2011, section 53A of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 has allowed the court to set an aggregate sentence of imprisonment in respect to two or more offences. The court must note the sentence that would have been imposed for each offence had separate sentences been imposed. This is referred to as the indicative sentence and should include a non-parole period for any standard non-parole period offences. The court may impose an aggregate sentence for some offences and separate imprisonment sentences for other offences. Where an aggregate sentence of imprisonment is imposed, the indicative sentences are used to determine the principal offence. Only the non-parole period duration for the principal offence is shown. When no indicative non-parole period has been specified, the ratio of the aggregate non-parole period to the aggregate total term is applied to the indicative total term (only when more than six months duration) to arrive at a non-parole period.
Juvenile control order: A control order is a custodial sentence served in a juvenile detention centre. Like an adult sentence of imprisonment. The court can place a juvenile on a control order to be served in detention for up to two years for any one offence and up to a maximum of three years.
Custodial alternatives: Include Intensive Correction Orders, home detention, suspended sentences (pre-24 September 2018), and periodic detention (pre-October 2010)
Intensive correction order (ICO): ICOs are served in the community for a period of up to two years. ICOs were reformed and expanded on 24 September 2018, replacing home detention and suspended sentences. An ICO is the most serious sentence that an offender can serve in the community. Supervision is mandatory and the court must impose at least one of the following conditions: home detention, community service work (up to 750 hours), GPS electronic monitoring, curfew, program treatment, alcohol/drug abstention, non-association or place restriction.
Non-custodial community based orders: Include Community Correction Orders, Conditional Release Orders with conviction, Children's Community Service Orders, juvenile probation orders, adult Community Service Orders (pre-24 September 2018) and good behaviour bonds (pre-24 September 2018).
Community Correction Order (CCO) with/without supervision: On 24 September 2018, CCOs replaced Community Service Orders and good behaviour bonds. Courts can use CCOs to punish offenders for crimes that do not warrant imprisonment or an ICO, but are too serious to be dealt with by a fine or lower level penalty. CCOs are served in the community for up to three years and the court may impose one or more of the following conditions: supervision, community service work (up to 500 hours), curfew (<12 hours daily), program treatment, alcohol/drug abstention, non-association or place restriction.
Pre-reform or Children's Community Service Order (CSO): Offenders are ordered to perform a specified number of hours of unpaid community service work. For juveniles the Children (Community Service Orders) Act 1987 allows for a maximum of 100 hours community service for an offence committed by a person under 16 years of age and a maximum of 250 hours for an offence committed by a person aged 16 years or older. Prior to 24 September 2018, an adult could be sentenced to a stand-alone CSO with a maximum of 500 hours of community service on any one occasion. From 24 September 2018, the new Community Corrections Order (CCO) and reformed Intensive Correction Order (ICO) may be imposed with a community service work condition.
Juvenile probation order: The Children's Court can impose an order for probation on a juvenile offender (a person under the age of 18 years) under the Children (Criminal Proceedings) Act 1987 (NSW) s33(1)(e), which allows a court to make an order releasing the juvenile on probation, on such conditions as the Court may determine, for up to two years.
Bond (with/without supervision): There are several different types of bonds which may be imposed. Generally they require the offender to be 'of good behaviour' for a certain length of time. Conditions may also be included, for example, reporting regularly to Community Corrections, attending alcohol counselling, residing in certain areas. From 24 September 2018, NSW bonds for adults were replaced by Community Correction Orders (CCO) and Conditional Release Orders (CRO) with conviction. Children's Court bonds and Commonwealth Crimes Act bonds continue to be reported in this category.
Conditional Release Order (CRO) with/without conviction: CROs are served in the community for up to two years. Courts can use CROs to deal with first time and less serious offences where the offender is unlikely to present a risk to the community. Courts may impose one or more of the following conditions: supervision, program treatment, alcohol/drug abstention, non-association or place restriction. CROs without conviction replaced S10 non-conviction bonds on 24 September 2018 and CROs with conviction, along with CCOs, replaced S9 good behaviour bonds.
Fine: A monetary penalty where the offender is required to pay a sum of money to the Crown.
Conviction only: Includes the following penalty types:
Bond without conviction (with/without supervision): The court may discharge a person after a finding of guilt on condition that they enter a good behaviour bond for a term not exceeding two years (or three years for Commonwealth bonds). On 24 September 2018, the new Conditional Release Order (CRO) replaced good behaviour bonds under Section 10(1)(b) of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999. Children's bonds without conviction and Commonwealth recognizance without conviction continue to be reported in this category.
No conviction recorded: Section 10(1)(a) of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 permits a court to find a charge proved but discharge the offender with no penalty.
Other penalties: Includes Dismissed after Youth Justice Conference, Juvenile offence proved, Dismissed, and No action taken, on a breach of bond.
Supervised Community Sentence (for BOCSAR's NSW Adult Criminal Sentencing Tool): Offenders must regularly report to and obey reasonable directions from their Community Corrections Officer. This category of penalties includes supervised bonds, supervised Community Corrections Orders, supervised Community Service Orders, suspended sentences with supervision, supervised Conditional Release Orders, Intensive Correction Orders and Home Detention.
Unsupervised Community Sentence (for BOCSAR's NSW Adult Criminal Sentencing Tool): Offenders are not formally supervised. This category of penalties includes unsupervised bonds, unsupervised Conditional Release Orders (with or without conviction), unsupervised Community Correction Orders and suspended sentences without supervision.
Other sentence (for BOCSAR's NSW Adult Criminal Sentencing Tool): Includes penalties of no conviction recorded, conviction only, and no action taken on a breach of bond.
POIs are suspected offenders recorded by police in connection with a criminal incident. The POIs included in the Apprehended Violence Order table have all been proceeded against to court. POIs are not a count of unique offenders. Where an individual is involved in AVO incidents throughout the year they will appear as a POI multiple times. POIs are categorised as at the date they were legally proceeded against; not the date the incident occurred.
The formal statement by, or on behalf of, the defendant in response to a criminal charge that has been laid in a court. The nature of this response indicates whether or not the defendant intends to contest that charge.
The principal offence is defined as the offence charged which received the most serious penalty according to the following rules:
The hierarchy of Children's Court penalties are:
For rate calculations, specialised population data were prepared and provided to BOCSAR by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. For 12 month periods which are not a calendar year (e.g. a financial year), population is based on the later calendar year within range of the reference.
This refers to the residential Statistical Area (SA) of the Person of Interest (POI). Please see the maps in the Appendix of our latest recorded crime report for information on the location of each SA as well as lists of the Local Government Areas (LGAs using 2016 boundaries) within each of the SAs. Note that LGA boundaries change from time to time.
Where a defendant enters a not guilty plea or other defended plea in the committal proceedings, they are committed to a Higher Court for trial. In the Higher Courts, trials are usually conducted before a judge and jury whereby the judge rules on questions of law, and the jury is responsible for determining whether or not the defendant is guilty. In NSW a trial can also be conducted before a judge alone.
15 Aug 2024