The Sun-Herald

WHO WE ARE: The mysterious conundrum of the puzzle enigma

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A column about Australia by David Dale, published in The Sun-Herald 8/3/2009
Australia, a nation founded by criminals, can't get enough of crime thrillers, as in Underbelly, CSI, NCIS, Law and Order, Border Security and City Homicide. The ever helpful Bureau of Statistics has just provided us with an excellent new mystery thriller in its report entitled Criminal Courts, Australia 2007-2008.

Buried in it are these puzzles, upon which you may care to apply your detective skills:

1) Why are people in Canberra more likely to be found not guilty than people in Western Australia (in WA, 91 per cent of defendants are proven guilty, while in the ACT, it's 70 per cent). And why are 22 per cent of cases withdawn by the prosecution in Canberra, while only 1 per cent are withdrawn in Tasmania? Are the police in Canberra less competent than the police in WA and Tasmania, or are the criminals more persuasive? Either way, it's clearly the politicians' fault.

2) You won't be surprised to learn that 86 per cent of defendants in serious cases are male (men are violent creatures, after all), but why did the number of women on trial increase by 9 per cent in 12 months while the number of men increased by only 5 per cent? Are women suffering a surge of testosterone? (The most frequent charges against women are for "acts intended to cause injury", illicit drug offences, and "deception", while for men the top two are the same and the third is sexual assault).

3) How did we suddenly become a nation of bad drivers? The number facing magistrate's court for traffic offences went up by 13 per cent between 2007 and 2008, with speeding charges up 16 per cent. Don't try to blame it on young people, and all that binge drinking. The bureau says "people over 45 were more likely to be charged with speeding than those under 25 ... Around the same proportion of defendants in each age group were charged with exceeding the prescribed content of alcohol limit."

4) Where did all the burglars go? Between 2002 and 2008, the number of defendants charged with "unlawful entry with intent" decreased by 44 per cent (while sexual assault charges rose by 32 per cent and drug charges rose 30 per cent). You can grudgingly admire the skill of a cat burglar, while it takes no talent to deal drugs.

5) Since 61 per cent of defendants in serious cases are under 34, do we conclude that older people are more honest than younger people or that they are simply cleverer at getting away with it?

6) Why do the wheels of justice grind ever more slowly? In 2002, one third of cases in the higher courts were finalised in less than 13 weeks, and only 14 per cent took more than 52 weeks. In 2008, only 17 per cent took less than 13 weeks, while a quarter of cases took longer than 52 weeks.

If you think you understand this nation of convicts, and can answer any or all of these questions, offer your solutions at Comments.

To read the full report, go here.

David Dale is the author of Who We Are -- A snapshot of Australia today (Allen and Unwin). For daily updates on Australian attitudes, bookmark http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.