About us
The Bureau is a statistical and research agency within the Department of Communities and Justice. It was established in 1969.
Our Director:
Jackie Fitzgerald is the Bureau's Executive Director.
Our aims are to:
identify factors that affect the distribution and frequency of crime;
identify factors that affect the effectiveness, efficiency or equity of the NSW criminal justice system;
ensure that information on these factors and on crime and justice trends is available and accessible to our clients.
By meeting these objectives we can assist policy makers and administrators in the criminal justice system to develop and implement strategies which reduce crime, and provide a more efficient, effective and equitable justice system.
Our four main areas of activity are:
developing and maintaining statistical databases on crime and criminal justice in NSW;
conducting research on crime and criminal justice issues and problems;
monitoring trends in crime and criminal justice;
providing information and advice on crime and criminal justice in NSW.
Our services include:
publishing regular reports which (1) summarise statistical information on recorded crimes and criminal court appearances; and (2) identify trends in crime and justice;
publishing the results of research that evaluates hypotheses and assumptions about crime and criminal justice;
providing, on request, statistical information on criminal offences reported to police and on criminal court appearances.
Both our publications and statistical information service are available to members of the public.
Our information services:
The information stored in the Bureau's databases can be used to answer many questions about crime and justice in NSW. The information in our database of crimes reported to police includes details such as the type of offence and when and where it was committed. The information in our database of criminal court appearances includes such details as age, gender, type of offence(s), plea, outcome of court appearance and penalty, for persons who appear before the courts charged with criminal offences.
Find out more about the policies and procedures we follow when providing information services to our clients by reading our
Information Service Policy (pdf 80.5Kb).
Typical questions we can help you with:
Which areas have high reported crime rates?
Which offences are increasing in frequency?
How many people are charged with criminal offences each year?
What proportion of people are found guilty of different kinds of offences?
What range of penalties are imposed for various offences?