Crime in NZ

[MotherBear]

[b:556c68d5e1]More than 1000 crimes each day in NZ [/b:556c68d5e1] [color=blue:556c68d5e1](You could say the same about London alone)[/color:556c68d5e1]
19 November 2005

More than 1000 crimes are recorded every day in New Zealand, the Ministry of Justice reveals in its briefing papers for new Attorney-General David Parker. In the Key Justice Sector Facts section it provided for Mr Parker, the ministry calculated what happens around the country on an average day.

The list includes:

Police answer 1462 emergency calls and 2571 other calls.

1085 crimes are recorded.

1036 on-road speed traffic and infringement notices are issued.

327 cases are referred for prosecution by the police.

More than 10 jury trials are disposed of in the District Courts.

Approximately 7000 people are in prison, and 26,730 offenders are on community-based sentences.

21 cases are referred to Child, Youth and Family, and 16 Family Court group conferences are convened.

504 applications are made in disputes tribunals, the civil jurisdiction of the District Court and the Family Court.

Well, 1000 sounds a lot, but as there is no mention of the severity of the crime, I guess you could say it's not all that bad. I would bet that a great number of those are Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, and are things like car theft (including broken window to steal contents) and other criminal damage to property.

The town we used to live in the UK had around that amount crimes reported daily, and was only a population of 200,000 people!

[MotherBear]

[quote:3797b8b35d="Taffy"]The town we used to live in the UK had around that amount crimes reported daily, and was only a population of 200,000 people![/quote:3797b8b35d]

Yes, this was the point I was making when I said, at the top, that that figure could well apply to somewhere like London in the UK i.e. a city as compared to a whole country.

[netchicken]

So out of that 1000 crimes only 327 cases are referred for prosecution by the police?

So one in three are not solved?

[selchie]

Well it does sound as though most of the "crimes" are traffic related, of which most are probably mere infractions rather than felonies. Often misdemeanors require no prosecution. I'd be more interested in statistics about serious crime and their successful prosecution.

[tottefan]

You can interpret it 2 ways:

1) The 1000 crimes are mainly serious in nature. If this were the case then NZ would have a high crime rate.
2) The 1000 crimes include shoplifting, traffic offences etc. In this case 1000 seems a very low number.

tottefan.

[netchicken]

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/cri_mur_cap
Much more on the site thats facinating as well

Murders (per capita)

24. United States 0.04 per 1,000 people
43. Australia 0.02 per 1,000 people
44. Canada 0.01 per 1,000 people
46. United Kingdom 0.01 per 1,000 people
49. Germany 0.01 per 1,000 people


52. New Zealand 0.01 per 1,000 people