Just over three-quarters of the cases in District and High Courts where adult prosecutions had an outcome resulted in conviction during 2018. Around the country there were some noticeable variations in conviction rate when analysed by ethnicity, gender, age, sentencing court and the type of offence.

Statistics New Zealand has released criminal conviction and sentencing information for the 2018 calendar year from data provided by the Ministry of Justice. The information for a centre covers both District Court and High Court (where applicable).

Of the 208,356 cases in District and High Courts where adults were prosecuted, 76% had an outcome resulting in a conviction. A further 4% of charges were “other proved” but not recorded as convictions – these included where Police offered diversion or the person was discharged without conviction under section 105 of the Sentencing Act 2002. Most of the rest – 20% – were “not proved”. This includes where the person was acquitted or discharged or where the charge was dismissed or withdrawn. A very small proportion of cases (“other”) resulted in a stay of proceeding, the person being found unfit to stand trial or acquitted on account of insanity.

Adult outcomes in New Zealand courts, 2018

Convictions by type of offence

Perhaps unsurprisingly, driving offences have the highest conviction rate. Over or under. Yes or no. Against the overall conviction rate of 76.1%, 91.7% of all traffic and vehicle regulatory offences resulted in conviction. The highest rate for any single offence was exceeding the prescribed content of alcohol or another substance limit in a vehicle, where 95.4% of prosecutions resulted in conviction. At the other end of the spectrum, just over half – 51.5% – of sexual assault and related offences resulted in conviction, with 46.5% being “not proved”.

Outcomes for categories of adult offences prosecuted to a conclusion in 2018

Outcomes for single adult offences prosecuted to a conclusion in 2018

Differences by court

Looked at on a court-by-court basis, there was a difference of over 20% between the proportion of cases which resulted in a conviction – from convictions in 87.5% of all prosecutions in the Dargaville District Court down to 64.7% of all cases in the Wellington District and High Courts.

Proportion of outcomes resulting in a conviction

Queenstown District Court had the biggest proportion of “other proved” (diversion or discharge without conviction) outcomes in 2018, at over 20% of all outcomes. At the other end of the scale were Rotorua and Whanganui District and High Courts. Nationally, 3.7% of outcomes were in this category.

Proportion of outcomes resulting in an “other proved” finding

Dargaville District Court had the lowest proportion of “not proved” outcomes in 2018 at 9.5%, while Wellington District and High Courts had the highest proportion of “not proved” outcomes (30.3%). Nationally, 19.8% of outcomes were not proved.

Proportion of outcomes resulting in a “not proved” finding, highest

Ethnicity and sentences

Statistics for adults convicted by sentence type show that Māori adults comprised 46% of adults convicted of an offence in 2018 where ethnicity was known, but made up 57% of adults who were sentenced to imprisonment. The Statistics New Zealand information shows the most serious offence. Of people of Māori ethnicity who were convicted of an offence during 2018, 16.7% were sentenced to imprisonment for their most serious offence. In contrast, 11.2% of Pacific People, 9.9% of Europeans and 8.8% of other ethnicities were sentenced to imprisonment.

The late release of Census 2018 information means Statistics New Zealand data on ethnicity relates to 2013. It appears to show that around 74% of the population identified as European or “other” ethnicity, 15% as Māori, 12% as Asian and 7% as Pacific (with people often identifying with more than one ethnicity).

Adults convicted by sentence type (most serious offence)

Proportion of sentences imposed (most serious offence)

Sentence imposed on conviction (most serious offence)

There were also noticeable (but less pronounced) regional differences when it came to the Justice Service Area where a sentence was imposed. For example, while 16.7% of sentences imposed on Māori convicted for their most serious offence were imprisonment nationally, in the Otago Justice Service Area 24.7% of Māori were sentenced to imprisonment, while in the Northern Wellington Justice Service Area, 10.4% were sentenced to imprisonment. Obviously population sizes and other factors will have had an impact on these statistics.

Highest proportion of sentences imposed by Justice Service Area (most serious offence)

Age and Gender

Men made up 78.3% of adults convicted of an offence in 2018. On an age basis, 49.8% of men convicted were aged under 30, and 48.7% of women convicted were aged under 30. European males aged under 30 comprised 46.1% of all European male convictions and those over 40 comprised 30.0% of all European male convictions. Māori males under 30 comprised 54.1% of all Māori male convictions and those over 40 comprised 23.0% of all Māori male convictions. Pacific males under 30 comprised 52.1% of all Pacific male convictions and those over 40, 21.6% of all Pacific male convictions. Males of other ethnicities under 30 comprised 49.4% of all other male ethnicity convictions and those over 40 comprised 22.2%.

Adult convictions in 2018 (most serious offence)*

Legal Aid

Information released recently by Justice Minister Andrew Little in response to a series of written parliamentary questions from National MP Mark Mitchell shows that in the year to 11 March 2019 there were 74,464 recipients of legal aid, of whom three-quarters received legal aid for criminal proceedings. Legal aid lawyers also had an average of 39.9 open legal aid cases each month.

Recipients of legal aid services by area of law, year to 11 March 2019

In response to another question Mr Little also provided information on the ethnicity of legal aid recipients. The ethnicity of most – 57.8% – was “unknown”, with Māori comprising 18.5% and NZ European/Pakeha, 13.5%. No other ethnicity contributed over 2%. While very incomplete, it is believed to be one of the few times information on the ethnicity of legal aid recipients has been publicised.

Open cases by area of law

Information on open legal aid cases by area of law at 11 March 2019 showed a very high proportion (68%) of open civil legal aid cases were in Wellington. Open criminal and family legal aid cases tended to match the regional population size.

Open legal aid cases at 11 March 2019 by area of law and region

Imprisonment

Information released by the Department for Corrections shows that at 31 December 2018, New Zealand had a prison population of 9,782 of whom 93% were male. Remand prisoners made up 30.1% of the prison population. Comparison with the population on 31 December 2013 shows a 85% increase in the number of remand prisoners, but just a 2.6% increase in the number of sentenced prisoners.

New Zealand prison population, 31 December 2018

Of those in prison, 33% were aged under 30.

Age of those in prison, 31 December 2018

Over half those imprisoned were of Māori ethnicity. Comparison with the situation five years earlier shows a slight increase in the proportion of Māori and prisoners of other ethnicity, while the earliest available statistics show that from nine years ago there has been a rise in the proportion of prisoners of other ethnicity. Prisoners of Asian ethnicity were recorded separately until the 30 June 2016 statistics, when they were included in “Other”.

Ethnicity of those in prison, 31 December 2018, 2013 and 2009