If you have issues viewing or accessing this file contact us at NCJRS.gov.
150341 U.S. Department of Justice National Institute of Justice
This document has been reproduced exactly as received from the person or organization originating it. Points of view or opinions stated in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the National Institut() of Justice. Permission to reproduce this copyrighted material has been gr~PYBureau of Crime statistics and Research
to the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS). Further reproduction outside of the NCJRS system requires permission of the copyright owner. Contemporary Issues in Crime and Justice
June 1994 Trends in homicide 1968 to 1992 NCJRS Patricia Gallagher, Marie Therese Nguyen Da Huang and Roseanne Bonney OCT 5 1994
INTRODUCTION accidents. Thus it includes deaths for Figure 1 ACQlHSKTUONS which charges of murder, conspiracy to Number of homicide incidents murder, manslaughter or infanticide were per 100,000 population laid (irrespective of the court outcome of 2.5 In August 1990 a man shot five people in such charges), as well as murders in a residential block in Surry Hills, a which the alleged offender committed 2 Sydney suburb. The victims included his suicir1e, and unsolved murders. sister and four neighbours. The offender The data in this bulletin cover the period was arrested. A year later, in August 1968 to 1992. The information between 1.5 1991, a man fired several shots at 1968 and 1986 is taken from earlier random, killing seven people who were reports published by the Bureau of Crime unrelated to himself, in a suburban Statistics and Research,l and has been shopping plaza. The offender also shot combined with recent data analysed by and killed himself. Then in October the Bureau. The data presented here 1992, a man shot six people - mainly include all homicides, as defined above, 0.5 • mily members and acquaintances - in which appeared in NSW Police Service .• .n incident on the Central Coast of New records between 1968 and 1992. South Wales. o An overview of the nature of homicide in ,,,,,'00.:. 0-'" ,~'o ,,,,,'0"" ,,,,,~ ,,,,,'0'0 ,,,,,,,,,," These incidents are disturbing, and have NSW is documented in a previous sometimes been taken as evidence that bulletin.2 This bulletin updates that the incidence or character of homicide in information, but focuse9 on trends.3 Although the NSW incident rate has not New South Wales (NSW) is changing. changed significantly, a question of Whether this is true or not needs careful interest is whether incidents involving analysis. Because media reports of multiple victims is on the increase. Over homicide tend to focus on the more THE INCIDENCE OF the period studied, most homicide sensational incidents, they do not provide HOMICIDE IN NSW incidents (94.2%) in NSW involved only an accurate picture of the nature and CG::T:"' one victim. Figure 2 is a timeplot of occurrence of the crime. This bulletin incidents with three or more victims. It explores trends in the pattern of indicates that multiple victim homicides Any changes in the number of homicides homicides over the last twenty-five years. are relatively infrequent - about one a must take into account changes in the It examines trends in the overall year on average· - and the number of size of the population. The incidence of incidence of homicide, the relative victims is usually not more than three. frequency of different types of homicide, homicide is therefore expressed as a Incidents which might be classed as rate, namely the number of homicide the characteristics of victims and 'mass murders', that is incidents incidents per 100,000 population.4 A offenders, the methods used to commit involving five or more victims, occurred homicide incident is a single event homicide and the success of the police in nine times in the period considered. This apprehending offenders. resulting in the unlawful killing of one or is not a large number, although it is more persons, by one or more offenders. notewotihy that almost all such incidents There were 2,321 homicide incidents, took place over the last twelve years, and involving 2,544 victims, between 1968 those discussed in the introduction all DEFINITIONS AND DATA and 1992 in NSW. Over this period there occurred in the last three years. was no significant upward or downward However, a statistical test indicates that SOURCES trend in the homicide incident rate. As there was no significant change in the Figure 1 shows, the annual rate has frequency of homicides involving three or remained stable, varying between 1.3 more victims, over the period studied.s For the purpose of this bulletin, the term and 2.3 homicide incidents per 100,000 There is no evidence therefore to homicide is used specifically to describe population. In terms of the number of conclude that these occurrences are unlawful killings known to the police, incidents, this represents approximately anything other than random fluctuations excluding those caused by motor vehicle 100 homicides annually in recent years. in the overall pattern. Figure 2 Since the annual number of homicides is period studied, and there were no relatively low, instances of multiple victim significant trends evident. Number of victims in multiple·victim (~3) homicide incidents murders, such as those outlined in the o 5 10 15 20 introruction, can have an impact on the rate of victims of homicide. The most Figure 4 recent homicide victim rate for NSW - 1.6 Gender·specific rale of suspects victims per 100,000 population in 1992 - per 100,000 population is similar to those for other Australian 4.5 States, with the exception of the Northern Territory, which consistently has a much 4.0 higher rate than all other States.6 3.5 At an international level, Figure 3 shows the most recent data for several 3.0 countries, covering most parts of the developed world. The national rate for 2.5 1972 Australia (1.9 victims per 100,000 population) is higher than the rates for 2.0 Japan, England/Wales and other 1973 1.5 European countries, but lower than those for New Zealand, Canada and the United 1.0 1974 States of America. Although the rates vary from year to year, the USA 0.5 consistently has an exceptionally high homicide rate. oi:'~ oi:''O ~'O"" ,0.,* ,0.,'0'0 ,o.,o.,~
~ Male suspects '=7=~= Female suspects
Figure 3
EnglandlWales Japan The masculine nature of homicide, that is men killing other men as well as women, Germany is universal. The motives and _ France interactions differ however, depending ~ Switzerland the victim's gender. Women are frequently passive, and usually non Singapore contributing victims, often family Scotland members or sexual intimates. However, Australia according to a study carried out in Canada Victoria,1 men are often killed as a result New Lealand of confrontational violence. This mainly involves men who are highly marginal in USA 9.1 an economic and social sense. They 0 2 4 6 8 10 display high risk-taking behaviour regarding their own, and others lives NI:mbers of victims per 100,000 population, 1992 during disputes. Often conflict, or saving Sources: World Health Organisatio~ Siatistics Annual. Vita/staffstics face, escalates to physical violence, and and causes of death. 1992. Australian Institute 01 Criminology, Canberra lor Australian data. sometimes this results in a fatality. They may also murder in the course of committing another crime.
CHARACTERISTICS OF AGE OFFENDERS Suspects in our sample were disproportionately young, over half GEl\rrlER (67.1%) being aged between 15 and 34 years. Figure 5 shows the trend in three Suspects were predominantly male. major age-bands. As indicated, the 15-29 Between 1968 and 1992, of 2,512 known years age group consistently had the suspects, 2,157 (85.9%) were men. The highest age-specific suspect rate. The rate for female offenders was never more only trend evident was that the rate for. than i per 100,000 population, while the suspects in the 30-44 years age group rate for male offenders varied between decreased significantly over the period. 1992 2.3 and 4.2 per 100,000. As Figure 4 The rate of suspects in this age group shows, this ratio of male to female was relatively high throughout the 1970s, suspects was quite consistent over the but has been declining since 1980. FigureS Although most victims were male RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN Age-specific rata of suspects (62.5%), the percentage of female VICTIM AND SUSPECT per 100,000 population victims was also large (37.3%}.10 7 The most frequent pattern of suspect victim incidence was male-male, Figure 6 secondly male-female, then female-male, Gender-specific rate of victims and very rarely female-female. Given 5 per 100,000 population that the frequency pattern was not 4 random, it is useful to examine the relationships between suspects and 4 victims. This has been reported in depth elsewhere,ll so only the main aspects 3 are considered in this bulletin. Figure 8 shows the trend in the 2 proportions of suspects falling into the three most common categories of relationship in homicide incidents: family, acquaintance and stranger. As a the relationship is unknown where there ~ a I, , , , , , , , , , , I , , , I , , , I , , I I Figure 8 MARITAL STATUS Percentage of homicide victims (where suspect is known) A recent overview of homicide patterns in = Male victims - Female victims AustraliaB suggests that male suspects 60 I are more likely to be single or divorced, while female suspects are more likely to While the majority of victims and be married or in a de facto relationship. suspects were male, there was a higher NSW data for suspects whose marital proportion of female victims than female 40 tatus was known9 accord with this suspects. Figure 7 shows the distribution • . bservation. Over the twenty-five year of victims and suspects by gender, for time period, 60.5 per cent of the female 1968 -1992. suspects were married or in a de facto relationship, compared with 27.6 per cent Figure 7 of the male suspects. Conversely, 42.7 per cent of the male suspects were Victims single or divorced, compared with 21.5 per cent of female suspects. This ties in with the pattern of a relatively high proportion of women offenders involved in spousal homicides - 52.0 per cent of Male female offenders killed their spouses, 63% -=- Family ,,= Acqaintance _ Stranger compared with 18.2 per cent of male offenders. However, it should be Suspects remembered that female offenders are relatively infrequent, and overall, many As this figure indicates, there are some Female years when known suspects who were more women than men are the victims of 14% spousal homicide. acquaintances exceeded those who were family members, however the proportion who were strangers is consistently the CHARACTERISTICS OF lowest. Although cases where a suspect VICTIMS is unknown may contain a larger proportion of strangers, this would not Male 86% affect the pattern as the total number of unsolved cases is small. GENDER AGE In most cases of homicide (40.6%), the As Figure 6 indicates, there were no suspect and victim were members of the gnificant upward or downward trends The ages of victims were more evenly same family. In 38.3 per cent of • ver the period in gender-specific rates distributed than were the ages of homicides, the suspect was a friend or of homicide victims. The ratio of male to suspects, although the highest proportion acquaintance of the victim. Only 16.6 female victims is fairly consistent, but were aged between 20 and 29 years per cent of homicides involved a suspect varies more from year to year than the (23.5%). No trends were evident for any who was a stranger. There were a few ratio of male to female offenders. particular age group. cases (4.5%) where the relationship between the accused and the victim was Figure 10 These trends were statistically significant uncertain. only for the proportions.14 There were no There are gender differences in these Male suspects significant upward or downward trends in relationships. As Figure 9 indicates, Victim spouse the actual numbers of male and female women were most likely to be killed by a 18% victims in family homicide. This pattern ... member of their family, while men were is indicative of some variability in the .. almost twice as likely to be killed by trend for total victims of family homicide, acquaintances/friends as by family as opposed to a consistently flat or members. Men were also more likely increasing trend. than women to be killed by strangers. Victim other To provide further insight into these 82% trends in the relative frequencies of male and female victims in family homicides, Female suspects the data were disaggregated to show the specific relationship between suspect Figure 9 and victim. For those victims killed by a Number of victims, 1968·1992 marital partner,15 there were again 700 Victim other Victim spouse significant complementary increasing and 48% 52% decreasing trends in the proportions of female and male victims respectively.16 600 .. Male victims This suggests that, while spousal Female victims homicides are not increasing in 500 frequency, the percentage of female victims is increasing relative to male victims. Figure 12 shows this trend. 400 Figure 12 300 There were no significant upward or Percentage of mantal downward trends in overall suspect/ homicide victims victim relationships over the period 100 200 studied. However, considering the victims in family homicide only, there was an increasing trend in the proportion of victims who were female, and a complementary decreasing trend in the proportion of victims who were male, as shown in Figure 11. • Suspect's relationship to victim Within family homicides, again there are gender differences. Although in general, Figure 11 homicide victims are more likely to be Percentage of family male than female, in cases where the homicide victims suspect was known, a greater proportion 80 of female victims (15.4%) than male ~ Male victims -- Female victims victims (5.0%) were killed by their spouses. Although the overwhelming CHILD VICTIMS majority of offenders were male, a high 60 proportion of female offenders compared As well as varying by the gender of the with male offenders in spousal incidents victim, the suspect/victim relationship suggests that when women do kill, it is varies according to the age of the victim. likely to be their partners who are the 40 Young children were more likely to be victims. Australian studies suggest killed by family - 195 victims aged under family homicides, whether by a male or a ten years were killed by a family female offender, often follow a history of member, which is 81.2 per cent of all frequent and severe domestic violence,12 20 victims in that age group. Infants are and that a precipitator is the situation particularly at risk in such Circumstances. where the perpetrator fears losing control - 83 (34.6%) were aged under one year. of the victim, for example if the abused In 72.9 per cent of child homicides (Le. partner leaves. 13 Figure 10 illustrates OLW~LLUU~LW~~WU-LU where the victim was under 10 years), the proportions of spousal versus non ~'o'O ,~'" ,fJ-'o {'J'O<:> ~* ,q,'O'O ~q,," the suspect was a parent. In this victim spousal homicide, for male and female age group, over the period studied, when offenders, for 1968 - 1992. _ Malevictims ___ Female victims a parent was the offender, it was equally ------~------4 ==~--=----=-=--==------~=-=-=------.' ". S,:-IJ,R- 'E:'~.I;U, . 0.);':,- G':ff.I',. .M;'~ .' '~.:r A~.1l.·LS. 1-1..·6-:5',. : A '~: B~ ~, -. '. _C-H .... • .' ~ ••• _ ... ,,~;,ul/J<'. _.~ • ¥"-" ,>If:w. .. ,,~ • .s' .~·=.iliI'-'-t.'~Jt,'f), .~ •• " likely to be the mother or the father and the frequency was also high on Figure '14 (47.4 % and 52.6% respectively). While either side of this interval. Family and Percentage of homicides it is of concern. this higher than usual acquaintance homicides have similar 40 proportion of female offenders is not timing patterns, but stranger homicide rpriSing since the level of interaction. differs in that it usually occurs in the • ereby the potential for conflict and midnight to 4am interval. 17 The only stress, is greater between women and month in which homicides were slightly 30 children than between men and children. more likely to occur was December, with Of the remainder of child victims, 13.8 10.1 per cent of the total. 20 per cent were killed by an acquaintance, This pattern has not changed and 4.6 per cent by a stranger. The risk significantly over the period studied, and was spread more evenly throughout the reflects the tendency for violent incidents age groups in these categories. except to be associated with increased 10 that no infant under 2 years was killed by socialiSing and consumption of alcohol.18 a stranger, probably because they are Weekend nights, as well as the festive more likely to be under constant season. are particularly associated with 0 supervision. entertainment and social drinking. ~r8' ,~'V ,~'O ,0,'Q"" ,0,'Q'" ,0,'Q'Q ,0,0,'"' There were no significant upward or bringing about an increased level of Home 01 __ Home shared by -= victim victim and suspect downward trends in homicides involving interaction. and greater potential for child victims. conflict. both at social venues and within the family. The characteristic location of homicide differs according to the victim's gender. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LOCATION While the victim's home was most INCIDENT frequently the location for both genders, • The home is a very common location for the proportion of women killed in this Figure 13 gives an overview of when homicide. Most homicides occurred at location (65.3%) was much greater than homicide occurs. Homicide incidents the home of the vit:tim. which was often for men (37.7%). Women are usually were more likely to occur on a Saturday also the home of the suspect. The table killed in this location as the result of a than any other day of the week. The below gives the proportions of incidents family homicide. The location for male increase on days leading up to the occurring in each location. 'Other' victims was much more varied, with high weekend is also evident. They were also includes sporadic locations. such as at proportions also killed in the street .,ore likely to occur late at night - almost sea, on public transport, or at a school. (15.7%) or near hotels and other licensed Wne third of the homicides (27.6%) premises (11.5%). Often such homicides 21 occurred between 8pm and midnight. are the result of an altercation. Figure 13 ~~:~iori Of'~omiCide inc~ent~~ METHOD Percentage of homicide incidents N~W,196a"i,!'l92 . ','" "" j 2() 18.7 The methods used in committing 18 .:Location '" ~ ~omjc!l:Ie~ Co/.) 'j homicide vary extensively, and include 16 stabbing, shooting, strangling, bashing Victim's own hOIOt,) , 21,0 11 14 and poisoning. Tile most common Home ~hared by Victim and suspect 26,~ . 1 12 l" categories are discussed here. Figure 15 ( Stl'f.l~t (includioginvehicles) °13.0 1 10 presents trends in the proportion of 8 I Bushlandlparkslco~ntryside j 0 1 I 8 Figure 15 6 1\'1 ~:r arQun~ hote!~, or ilther li~nced premisesl/ "3:"3°.. I 4 Home at the accused 6,6 Percentage of homicides 2 Aonf~. of another . o 60 6 WorkplaCe of vibUm or suspect 'M o~ o~ o~ o~ ·o~ o~ o~ o~<:- h. ~"'~ ""q,'d s!i''d ~'d '<.'" ~ "-""~ -$ 3.fi , ~.:S:-q,1:'J "'~ <:,'1> -~ ""~ II.~" ·.. r.~ or. around buildings :~pttler ~ , 2,0 Percentage of homicide incidents Qnknown . () .' .~;2 30 lr Total "Y1 '100 25 L..._,_'"_--...... :..c....:..,_, .. ___~D~":.;.J· 20 15 Some trends were evident over the 1() period studied, and these are shown in Figure 14. The proportion of homicides occurring in the victim's own home .5 OLW~~~~~LW~~~ increased significantly,19 while those o ~"o'Q ,~'V ,~'O .'2;>'Q"" ,o,*' ,0,'Q'Q ~o, ------5 homicide victims for whom a specified Recent Australian stUdies of homicide and no increase in gun-related homicide method was used (regardless indicate that knives are particularly homicides. There has been no change in of whether that method was used alone prevalent in incidents involving female the proportions of homicides committed or in combination with another method). offenders, particularly when the victim is by family members, acquaintances or 23 If more than one method was used, the her spouse or partner. Men, in contrast, strangers. • incident is included in the counts for each use guns more frequently. Our data Some trends were evident. There has concur with this finding. Over a quarter method of homicide. For this reason, been an increase in the proportion of percentages of the various methods used of female offenders stabbed their victim women, and a corresponding decrease in may total more than per cent. over the period, and two-thirds of these 100 the proportion of men, who are victims of were family homicides. For male The two most common methods used in spousal homicide. Although there is no offenders, the figure was around one homicides over the 1968 to 1992 period significant increase in the numbers of fifth, and most involved non-family were shooting (33.6% of all victims) and victims of marital homicide, this change victims. Given this pattern, it is stabbing (23.3%). The remainder in the pattern indicates that over the somewhat surprising that the significant (47.4%) were mainly due to bashing, period studied, when an intimate increase in stabbing evident from our strangling and other less common relationship did end in homicide, it data involved only male ol'fenders, as methods, such as smothering or became increasingly likely that the Figure 16 shows. drowning. woman would be the victim. While shooting was the most common There has been a significant reduction in method, the use of firearms in homicide UNSOLVED HOMICIDES the rate of suspects aged 30-44 years. is not on the increase. Over the period This cannot be explained in terms of an While in most cases a suspect is studied, there was no significant upward increase in the number of people in this apprehended, there are usually some or downward trend in the proportion of age group as it is based on an age-specific 'unsolved' murders where there is no homicides involving guns. rate, which takes the population age known suspect. Only 234, or 10.1 per composition into account. Knife-related The second most common method cent of incidents over the period 1968-92, homicides by male offenders have involves the use of knives or other sharp involving 250 victims, fell into this increased. There has been an increase instruments. As Figure 15 shows, the category. However, as Figure 17 shows, in homicide occurring in the victim's own use of this method has increased there was a significant increase in home, and a marginal decrease in those significantly.22 For the first three years of unsolved cases over the period.24 The occurring in a home shared by the victim the period under review, an average of increase appears to have been a steady and suspect. No explanations are readily 18.5 per cent of victims were stabbed, one, rising from an average rate of 0.09 apparent for these changes. compared with an average of 29.4 per per 100,000 population between 1968 cent over the final three years. The and 1970, to 0.27 per 100,000 population The rate of unsolved homicides has alsoe graph shows that this increase has been between 1990 and 1992. increased, although the great majority of . steady, so it is unlikely to be due to any homicides are still solved by police. This particular event. It seems more likely Figure 17 could be due to a decline in the ability of that offenders are increasingly using Unsolved homicide incidents police to solve homicides. However, it per 100,000 population knives, where before they may have could also reflect a natural lag in solving 0.4 used their fists and feet to bash the them. Given the fact that it can take victim. This latter method decreased several years to solve some homicides, significantly over the period, and accounts more recently recorded homicides will for a large proportion of incidents not always include a higher proportion of 0.3 involving shooting or stabbing. unsolved cases than those which occurred in earlier years. Figure 16 0.2 Number of homicide incidents involving stabbing 40 0.1 30 OUW~LU~~~~~~~ ,-0,,<>'0 '-~'O '-~'<> ~'O'" ,~* ~'O'O ,-0,0,'0 20 DISCllSSION I' 5&.,,11 ,tfSWliiot·':,'i. s-iih'•. k-t I '.,~ ... .,...,l'''¥-_1'''~ 10 ,$\} \\ Examination of data on homicide in NSW it "\~\'!!~' (:,,k'" between 1968 and 1992 indicates that o I! t I I ! I I I..L..LJ I 1'1 I ! ! I') ! ! I I there has been no significant upward or • ~'¢'O '-~'O '-~'<> ,,;?>'O'" ,-0,* ~c§> ,-0,0,'0 downward trend in the incidence of this - Male suspects c ...=.·' Female suspec!s crime, no increase in multiple murders, NOTES Wallace, A. 1986, Homicide: the social reality, NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, Sydney; Bonney, R. 1987, Homicide 2, NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, Sydney. 2 NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, 1988, Homicide, Crime and Justice Builetin No.5, NSW • Bureau o( Crime Statistics and Research, Sydney. The data were analysed to Identify any significant increasing or decreasing trends over the period. Unless otherwise stated, the test used was Kendall's Rank order Corretation. Population data for the rate calculations were obtained (rom the Australian Bureau of Statistics publication series Estimated Resident Population by Sex and Age: Slaies and Territories of Australia, Catalogue no. 3201.0, (or years 1968 to 1993. All population data were as at 30 June of the particular year. The data were analysed, using a chi-square goodness of (it test, to see whether there was a uniform distribution of multiple-victim incidents over the time period. For this purpose the observed and expected frequencies were compared over five five-year periods. Strang, H. 1993, Homicides in Australia 1991-92, Australian Institute of CrimInology, Canberra. Polk, K. 1993, 'A scenario of maSCUline violence: confrontational homicide', In Strang, H. and Gerull, S. Homicide: patterns, prevention and control, Conference Proceedings Series no. 17, Australian Institute of Criminology, Canberra. Strang, H. 1993, op. cit. NSW Bureau 0; Crime Statistics and Research data on marital status were unknown for 29.4 per cent of male suspects, and 16.7 per cent of female suspects. Gender waz not known In the case of 6 (0.2%) victims. 11 Nguyen Da HUong, M.T. and Salmelalnen, P. 1992, • Family, acquaintance and stranger homicide In New South Wales, NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, Sydney. 12 Matka, E. 1991, Domestic Violence in NSW, Crime and Justice Bulletin No. 12, NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, Sydney. 13 Eastsal, P. 1993, Killing the Betoved: homicide between adult sexual intimates, AUstralian Institute of Criminology, Canberra. 14 Kendall's t"" 0.388, P <: 0.01. 15 This includes spouses and de facto spouses, current and former. 16 Kendall's t " 0.332, P <: 0.05. 17 Nguyen Da Huang and Salmelalnen, op. cit. t6 Hamel, R. 1993, 'Hot spots for violence: the environment of pubs and clubs', in Strang, H. and Gerull, S. op.cit. 19 Kendall's t" 0.425, P <: 0.01. 20 Kendall's t "" -0.27 3, P ". 0.05. 21 Hamel, R. 1993, op. cit. 22 Kendall's t "" 0.477, P < 0.001. As the proportions are basad on use of the methOd with or without other methods, an Increase In one method can occur without a corresponding decrease In other methods. Strang, H. 1993, op. cit.; Easteal, P. 1993, op. cit. 24 Kendall's t"" 0.524, P <: 0.001_ 25 Wallace, A. 1986, op. cil. 7 • Other titles in this series 0 No. 1 Trends in Serious" Crime in New South Wales No. ,2 Bail in New South Wales No. S Heroin Use and Cfime ". No. 4 The Criminal Prosecution Process in New South Wale/; No. 5 Homicide No. 6 Court Delay and Prison Overcrowding No. 7 Arson in New South Wales i.\No. 8 Suicide 0 Nb. 9 Juvenile Justice and the Children's Court in New South Wales No. 10 Sentencing Assault Offenders in the Higher Courts in New South Wales No. 11 Uses and Abuses of Crim@ StaUstics No. 12 Domestic Violence in New South Wales /,~\-~ ~ No. 13 Atipects of Malicious Damage No. 14 Imprisonment Rates in NSW and Victoria: Explaining the Difference No. 15 " Aspeots of pemand for Criminal Court Time o Nc>,. 16 Stealing in NSW r:; 0 No. 17 Preve~')Jti!)g Credit Card Fraud" No. 18 Understanding Committal Hearings , . 0 ,"No. 19 '£3rappling with Court Delay No. 20 Adult Sexual Assault in New South Wales () 0 • NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research ISSN 1030· 1046 Level 8 St James Centre. 111 Elizabeth Street. S dne 2000 Tel: 2" 1·,1, c: I ~1 , ~4"