​Definitions and explanations - NSW Criminal Court Statistics

When using NSW Criminal Court 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.


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Explanation
collapse Term : Aboriginality ‎(1)

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.

collapse Term : Age ‎(1)

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.

collapse Term : Appeal cases ‎(1)
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.

There are four outcomes of appeals:
  1. Appeal upheld for all matters: This includes either that the conviction or AVO was overturned for all matters appealed against; or that the penalty was varied (for a severity or inadequacy appeal) for all charges/orders appealed against.
  2. Appeal dismissed/withdrawn all matters: The court dismissed the appeal for all the charges/orders appealed against or that the appellant withdrew the appeal.
  3. Appeal upheld for some matters: The court dismissed the appeal on some charges/orders but upheld the appeal for at least one charge.
  4. Other (did not appear, died etc): The appeal was dismissed due to non-appearance of the appellant, the appellant's death, or the matters were referred to the Drug Court to be finalised with other offences.
collapse Term : Apprehended Violence Orders (AVOs) ‎(1)

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).

collapse Term : Bail ‎(1)

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: 

  1. Fail to appear at any proceedings for an offence; or
  2. Commit a serious offence; or
  3. Endanger the safety of victims, individuals or the community; or
  4. Interfere with witnesses. 

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


collapse Term : Bail conditions ‎(1)

​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 conditionDescription
Do not associate (or non-association condition)
Accused must stay away from a person 
AccommodationAccused must live at a specific address
Report on bailAccused must report regularly to police
Place restrictionAccused must stay away from an area
CurfewAccused must obey a curfew
SecurityAccused or another person must forfeit some money if the accused fails to appear in court
EnforcementA 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 passportAccused must surrender their passport
Conduct: OtherAccused must comply with additional conduct requirement, such as complying with an AVO, not driving, not consuming alcohol etc.


collapse Term : Bail status at finalisation ‎(1)

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.

collapse Term : Breach bail conditions ‎(1)

​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 breachBail condition breachedDescription
Technical breachesReport on bailAccused failed to report regularly to police
 CurfewAccused failed to obey a curfew
 ResidenceAccused failed to live at a specific address
 Place restrictionAccused failed to stay away from an area
 No contact – witnessAccused failed to stay away from a witness
 No contact – otherAccused failed to stay away from another person
 Travel restrictionAccused failed to obey travel restriction
 Drug/alcohol restrictionAccused failed to obey drug/alcohol restriction – i.e. not to consume drugs or alcohol
New offenceNew offenceAccused committed a new offence while on bail



collapse Term : Charges ‎(1)

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.

collapse Term : Charges proven ‎(1)

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.

collapse Term : Charges unproven ‎(1)

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.  

collapse Term : Child sex offences ‎(1)

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.

collapse Term : Committal ‎(1)

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.

collapse Term : Commonwealth charges ‎(1)

Commonwealth charges finalised in NSW criminal courts are included in BOCSAR reporting.

collapse Term : Companies ‎(1)

Where companies have been excluded, it is noted below the data table along with the number of excluded companies for each year.

collapse Term : Court delay ‎(1)

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.

    Local and Children's Court: The stages of proceedings are categories as follows:
  • Arrest to first appearance: the time from the date on which the offender was arrested for the offence to the date of first appearance in court for the defendant for that offence.
  • First appearance to determination: the time from the date of first appearance in court to the latest date on which all charges laid against a defendant within one court appearance are regarded as formally completed by the court.
  • Arrest to finalisation: the time from the date on which the offender was arrested for the offence to the latest date on which all charges laid against a defendant within one court appearance are regarded as formally completed by the court.
     Higher Courts: The stages of proceedings are categories as follows:
  • Arrest to committal: the time from the date on which the offender was arrested for the offence to the date the matter was committed to the Higher Courts. Note that Arrest to Committal is not presented for the Supreme Court jurisdiction as arrest date is currently populated for only a subset of these finalisations in BOCSAR's data collection and so this measure is not representative.
  • Committal to outcome: the time from date the matter was committed to latest date of determination of charges. Note that it is not possible to distinguish whether the accused altered his or her plea during the course of proceedings. Such a change of plea would be expected to alter the time taken to dispose of the matter.
  • Outcome to sentence: the time from latest date of determination of charges (guilty plea or verdict) to the date of sentence. This category is applicable only to those accused persons who were found guilty.
  • Arrest to finalisation: the time from the date on which the offender was arrested for the offence to the date the matter was finalised in the Higher Court. Note that Arrest to Finalisation is not presented for the Supreme Court jurisdiction as arrest date is currently populated for only a subset of these finalisations in BOCSAR's data collection and so this measure is not representative.
collapse Term : Custodial sentence ‎(1)

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'.

collapse Term : Defendants with a finalised charge ‎(1)

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.

collapse Term : Defendants with a proven charge ‎(1)

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.

collapse Term : Domestic violence offences ‎(1)

Domestic violence offences are defined in the Crimes (Domestic and Personal Violence) Act 2007 and identified in three ways:

  1. Prosecution use of a domestic-violence specific lawpart code – available for offences specified in the act, committed on or after 10 March 2008
  2. The court ordering that an offence be recorded as a domestic violence offence - which from December 2016 may include offences other than 'personal violence offences'
  3. Murder/manslaughter offences committed on or after 10 March 2008 where a DV-specific lawpart has not been used by the prosecution but either (1) the criminal incident was flagged as DV-related by Police or (2) the ex officio indictment or judgement indicates that there was a domestic relationship between the accused and the victim.

collapse Term : Finalised appearances ‎(1)

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. 

collapse Term : Internet Browsers ‎(1)

The NSW Adult Criminal Sentencing Tool works best with the latest version of Chrome. The application may operate with other browsers but may not be as user friendly as in Chrome. We do not guarantee the tool's performance on browsers other than Chrome.

collapse Term : Jurisdiction ‎(1)

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.

  • Higher Courts: There are two major jurisdictions in the NSW Higher Courts: the Supreme Court, which hears cases in Sydney and on circuit in country centres, and the District Court, which sits at a number of metropolitan and country court houses. The Supreme Court deals with the most serious criminal matters. The District Court deals with all other matters on indictment and appeals against conviction or sentence arising from Local Court cases. The Supreme Court data in these tables excludes contempt of court proceedings referred from the civil jurisdiction for sentencing. The District Court data includes workplace health and safety prosecutions finalised in the District Court's summary jurisdiction.
  • Local Courts: A lower court level which deals with the majority of all criminal cases are heard in NSW. The Local Court is presided over by a magistrate and has jurisdiction to try and sentence matters relating to summary offences. Under some circumstances, the Local Court may also deal with less serious indictable offences. Local Courts are also responsible for conducting preliminary (committal) hearings for indictable offences.
  • Children's Courts: The Children's Court hears and determines criminal charges against persons generally aged less than 18 years at the time the offence occurred. The Children's Court may also determine some minor indictable offences and conduct committal proceedings in relation to young people who have been charged with major indictable offences. In NSW children aged under 10 years cannot be charged with a criminal offence.
collapse Term : Non-custodial sentence ‎(1)

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.

collapse Term : Offence type ‎(1)

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'.

collapse Term : Outcome of court appearance ‎(1)

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:

  • Proceeded to defended hearing/trial: Include where a 'not guilty plea' is entered or 'no plea' is recorded and the defendant/accused was present when the matter was finalised.
    • Not guilty of all charges: Appearances in this category involved the defendant being found not guilty of any offence following a defended hearing. Such appearances may have included some charges being dismissed without hearing.
    • Act(s) proven but not criminally responsible, mental health or cognitive impairment: Under  section 28 of the Mental Health and Cognitive Impairment Forensic Provisions Act 2020 (NSW), the Higher Courts can find an act proven but the defendant not criminally responsible. Following this outcome the defendant will either be released with or without conditions or detained in a mental health facility for an indeterminate period of time until released by due process of law (amongst other orders that the court may impose), under sections 33 and 34 of the Act. This outcome only applies to District and Supreme Courts.
    • Guilty of at least one charge: The defendant pleaded not guilty, but was found guilty by the court of at least one of the offences charged.
    • Found not guilty but pleaded guilty to other charge/s: Appearances in this category include persons for whom one or more charges were dismissed after a defended hearing, but who either (i) pleaded guilty to other charges or (ii) were convicted ex parte of other charges.
  • Proceeded to sentence only: Includes where the defendant pleaded guilty to at least one charge, and any other charges were dismissed or otherwise disposed of.
    • Sentenced by the lower courts after a guilty plea: Persons present when finalised by the lower courts after entering a plea of guilty.
    • Sentenced after a guilty plea following trial committal (HC): Persons committed for trial who entered a guilty plea after committal, either before or during the trial. Persons who entered a guilty plea and were also found guilty/ acquitted of other charges at trial are excluded.
    • Sentenced after a guilty plea following sentence committal (HC): Persons committed to the higher court for sentence after entering a guilty plea in the lower court.
  • Proven offence: not further described: Include persons who received a sentence but there was insufficient data to indicate whether they had proceeded to a defended hearing and a guilty finding was handed down or whether they were sentenced after entering a guilty plea.
    • Convicted ex parte: Includes charges where the defendant either: (i) lodged a written guilty plea and was proven guilty and sentenced in his/her absence, or (ii) failed to appear, was convicted and sentenced by the court on the evidence presented. 
    • Dismissed by lower court - mental health or cognitive impairment; mentally ill or disordered:  Includes charges dismissed under Section 14 and section 19 of  the Mental Health and Cognitive Impairment Forensic Provisions Act 2020 (NSW) (previously section 32 and 33 of the Mental Health (Forensic Procedure) Act 1990).  Section 14 allows  a defendant who has a mental health impairment or cognitive impairment to be dismissed and discharged conditionally or unconditionally.  Section 19 allows for a magistrate to order a  defendant who is mentally ill or mentally disordered (which is generally more serious than a mental health impairment or cognitive impairment) to be detained in a hospital for an assessment, or discharge the defendant, either unconditionally or conditionally, into the care of a responsible person.
    • All charges withdrawn by prosecution: This category includes finalisations where all charges were dismissed by the court, but there was not a defended hearing or trial. For instance, the prosecution may have not offered any evidence in respect to the charges, the Director of Public Prosecution may have elected to not proceeded, to trial or the defendant died prior to finalisation.
    • Otherwise disposed of (eg transferred to Drug Court, deceased): Includes persons transferred to the Drug Court or referred to the Mental Health Review Tribunal from the Higher Court.


collapse Term : Penalties ‎(1)

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.

  • On 24 September 2018, sentence reforms were implemented in NSW. Under the reforms:
    • Intensive Correction Orders were reformed and expanded
    • Suspended sentences and Home Detention penalties were abolished
    • Community Correction Orders replaced Community Service Orders and Good behaviour bonds
    • Conditional Release Orders replaced non-conviction bonds
  • Consequently the penalty data in current reports cannot be compared with that in previous reports.

    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:
    • Rising of the Court: This is a nominal penalty where the offender is held in custody until the court adjourns (also referred to as 'Nominal sentence').
    • Conviction without penalty: Under Section 10A of theCrimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999, the court may, where it finds a charge proved, record a conviction and dispose of the proceedings without imposing any other penalty.

    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.

collapse Term : Penalties repealed by the 24 September 2018 sentence reforms ‎(1)
  • Suspended sentence: Under the now repealed Section 12 of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999, a court was able to impose a sentence of imprisonment of up to two years duration and then suspend the sentence on the condition that the offender entered into a good behaviour bond. A suspended sentence could be imposed with or without supervision. On 24 September 2018, suspended sentences were one of the sentencing options replaced by a reformed Intensive Correction Order with mandatory supervision.
  • Home detention: Under the now repealed Section 6 of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999, home detention orders were an alternative means of serving sentences of full-time imprisonment of up to 18 months. The conditions of the order constrained the offender's liberty to an extent that approximated confinement in minimum security custody with access to day release programs. On 24 September 2018, home detention orders were abolished, replaced by Intensive Correction Orders which may include a home detention condition.
  • Community Service Order (CSO): Under the NSW Crime (Sentencing Procedure) Act offenders were ordered to perform a specified number of hours of unpaid community service work with a maximum of 500 hours of community service imposed on any one occasion. From 24 September 2018, CSOs were no longer a stand-alone sentencing option under the NSW Crime (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999.  The new Community Corrections Order (CCO) and reformed Intensive Correction Order (ICO) may be imposed with a community service work condition.
  • Non-conviction bond: Section 10(1)(b) of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 permitted a court to discharge a person on condition that they enter into a good behaviour bond for a term not exceeding two years. On 24 September 2018, good behaviour bonds were replaced by a Conditional Release Orders (CRO) under section 10(1)(b).
collapse Term : Persons of interest (POIs) ‎(1)

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.

collapse Term : Plea ‎(1)

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.

collapse Term : Principal offence ‎(1)

The principal offence is defined as the offence charged which received the most serious penalty according to the following rules:

  1. Where an offender is found guilty of more than one offence, the offence which received the most serious penalty type is the principal offence.

    The hierarchy of Children's Court penalties are:
    1. Control order - a fixed term or non-parole period of detention in a Juvenile Justice NSW facility
    2. Community Service Order
    3. Probation Order - probation orders with Juvenile Justice NSW supervision, probation orders with other supervision and probation without supervision
    4. Fine
    5. Bond - includes bond, suspended control order and conditional discharge, with supervision and without supervision
    6. Dismissed with caution
    7. Other proven outcomes – includes dismissed after Youth Justice Conference, no action taken on a breach of court orders, nominal sentence (rising of the court), conviction with no other penalty, disqualified driver and compensation.
  2. Where there are two or more offences which received the same penalty type, the offence which received the greatest quantum of that penalty type is the principal offence. Note that for this calculation if multiple counts of the same offence type received different penalties they are treated as separate offences.
  3. If there was more than one offence with a custodial penalty, the offence with the longest total sentence is selected as the principal offence.
  4. If there was more than one offence with a custodial penalty with the same quantum of total sentence, the offence with the longest non-parole period is selected as the principal offence.
  5. If there was more than one offence which received the same quantum of the same penalty type, including the same quantum of total sentence and non-parole period, the offence with the highest Median Sentence Ranking (see the Bureau’s Crime and Justice Bulletin No.142 'Measuring Offence Seriousness') is selected as the principal offence.
  6. Where an offence received more than one penalty, a principal penalty for that offence is first calculated following the rules set out above. The determination of principal offence is then calculated on the principal penalty for each offence.
collapse Term : Rate per 100,000 population ‎(1)

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.

collapse Term : Statistical Area ‎(1)

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.

collapse Term : Trial ‎(1)

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.