What information is available on the number of defendants before the courts by the type of offence committed?
A. The annual publication Criminal Courts, Australia (cat. no. 4513.0) contains a range of information on the type of offences committed by defendants using the concept of principal offence, whereby each defendant is represented by the most serious offence for which they have been finalised. The seriousness of offences is determined using the National Offence Index (cat. no. 1234.0.55.001). Defendant level information by court level on offences is available with respect to the method of finalisation and sentence type for those found guilty. Also, the annual publication Federal Defendants, Selected States and Territories, 2008-09 (cat. no. 4515.0) contains information on the types of federal offences committed using both the ABS Australian Standard Offence Classification (ASOC) (cat. no. 1234.0) and a non-standard set of offence outputs. Federal Defendants, Selected States and Territories, 2008-09 (cat. no. 4515.0) also includes information on sentence outcomes for defendants found guil
