About the data

Court Services Victoria provides us with the data published in SACStat. Higher courts data comes from their conviction returns database, and Magistrates' Court data comes from the Courtlink administrative system.

The Court of Appeal also provides notifications on appeal decisions from the higher courts, and we review appeal decisions from the higher courts published on AustLII (the Australasian Legal Information Institute). Higher courts data currently incorporates decisions made by the Court of Appeal as at 31 December 2023.

What data is included in SACStat?

Sentence types for Victorian offences heard in the higher courts

Higher courts case data includes imprisonment (without a community correction order), imprisonment with a community correction order (often referred to as a 'combined order'), community correction orders, fines, youth justice centre orders, and other outcomes.

Higher courts charge data uses the same sentence types, except imprisonment with and without a community correction order are reported together as 'imprisonment'.

In the higher courts, the 'other' category comprises less common sentence types in that jurisdiction, such as adjourned undertakings, discharges, dismissals, court secure treatment orders, probation, residential treatment orders and suspended sentences.

Sentence types for Victorian offences heard in the Magistrates' Court

Magistrates' Court case data includes imprisonment (without a community correction order), imprisonment with a community correction order (often referred to as a 'combined order'), community correction orders, fines, adjourned undertakings, discharges/dismissals, and other outcomes. Magistrates' Court charge data uses the same sentence types, except imprisonment with and without a community correction order are reported together as 'imprisonment'.

In the Magistrates' Court, the 'other' category comprises less common sentence types in that jurisdiction, such as drug and alcohol treatment orders and suspended sentences.

Sentence types for Commonwealth offences

Commonwealth offence case data includes imprisonment (with and without a community correction order), imprisonment with recognizance release order (including immediate and later release), community correction orders, fines with conviction, bonds with conviction, bonds without conviction, diversion, and other outcomes.

Commonwealth offence charge data uses the same sentence types, except 'imprisonment' incorporates imprisonment with and without a community correction order, and imprisonment with a recognisance release order.

The 'other' category comprises less common sentence types for Commonwealth offences, such as drug and alcohol treatment orders and adjourned undertakings.

Aggregate sentences

Courts may impose an aggregate sentence on multiple charges in a case (a single value, such as a term of imprisonment or fine amount, covering multiple offences). It is not possible to determine the specific contribution of each offence to an aggregate sentence. As such, charge data in both the Magistrates' Court and higher courts does not include aggregate sentence values. Conversely, aggregate sentences do not affect case data, so they are included there.

Age

The age of the offender at the time of sentencing is grouped into four categories: company, aged < 25 years, aged 25-54 years, and aged 55+.

Gender

In the higher courts, the gender of the offender is grouped into three categories: company, female and male. In the Magistrates' Court, the gender of the offender is grouped into two categories: female and male. Data on non-binary gender categories is not currently available in the source data.

The gender of the offender is not indicated in the source data for a small percentage of cases.

What data is not included in SACStat?

De novo appeals

In the higher courts, SACStat does not include data on sentences imposed in the County Court following a sentence appeal from the Magistrates' Court. Similarly, SACStat does not include Magistrates' Court data on changes to sentences resulting from a sentence appeal to the County Court.

Supervision orders and unconditional release orders

SACStat does not include custodial or non-custodial supervision orders for people who have been found not guilty because of mental impairment or found guilty at a special hearing, or unconditional release orders under the Crimes (Mental Impairment and Unfitness to be Tried) Act 1997 (Vic).

Children's Court

SACStat does not currently include data on sentences imposed in the Children's Court.

Diversion

Currently, Magistrates' Court data only includes diversion as an outcome for offences under Commonwealth legislation, not offences under Victorian legislation.

Cases with a mix of Victorian and Commonwealth offences

Commonwealth data for cases uses a principal proven offence counting rule, meaning a case will only appear in the data if that Commonwealth offence was the most serious offence in the case. In comparison, in the Magistrates' Court, Victorian data for cases uses an all proven offence counting rule, meaning all cases involving that offence are included, regardless of whether it was the most serious offence in the case. There is one exception to this. To avoid double-counting, cases are excluded from Victorian data if the most serious offence is a Commonwealth offence.

Does SACStat include data on repealed, revoked or abolished offences?

Yes. Some offenders may continue to be sentenced for repealed, revoked or abolished offences, depending on the date of their offending. The labels '(repealed)', '(revoked)' or '(abolished)' have been added to offence descriptions for historical offences. 'Repealed' offences refer to historical offences from legislative Acts, 'revoked' offences refer to historical offences from statutory regulations and 'abolished' offences refer to historical offences from the common law.

Key counting rules

The Council uses the following counting methods for charge and case data.

Charges

The all proven offence counting rule counts all proven charges of a particular offence, not just those where the crime is the principal proven offence in the case. This counting rule is useful for understanding how a particular offence is usually sentenced.

Cases

For case data in the higher courts, the principal proven offence counting rule counts just one charge per case, the offence that received the most severe sentence within a case (or, if multiple offences received an equally severe sentence, the most serious offence according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics' National Offence Index). This counting rule is useful for understanding how people are sentenced for their most serious offence.

The principal proven offence counting rule also applies to Magistrates’ Court cases when a Commonwealth offence receives the most severe sentence.

Victorian offences sentenced in the Magistrates' Court use the all cases counting rule. This rule also counts just one charge per case, but the offence does not need to be the principal proven offence for the case to be included. Consequently, a case with multiple charges of only one offence type is counted once. A case with charges of multiple offence types is counted once for each relevant offence type.

The all cases counting rule means that Magistrates' Court case data for Victorian offences needs to be treated with caution. The relevant offence may not have contributed substantially, or at all, to the principal sentence type or length imposed in the case. For example, a case may include charges of causing injury intentionally, unlawful assault and possessing a drug of dependence, but only the charge of causing injury intentionally receives a term of imprisonment. Nonetheless, imprisonment will be counted as a sentence type for cases within the offences of unlawful assault and possessing a drug of dependence, even though neither offence received imprisonment. For consistency, the Council is considering revising the Victorian offence case data in the Magistrates' Court to use a principal proven offence counting rule.

Offence classification

Offences are classified by their statutory reference and charge description in the SACStat data.

The Council conducts regular quality assurance exercises for four offence categories: sexual penetration of a child, incest, trafficking in a drug of dependence, and cultivating a drug of dependence. The specific offences within these categories are not always available in the original sentencing data. To verify the offences in these four categories, the Council reviews higher court sentencing remarks. If for whatever reason it is not possible to verify the specific offence using sentencing remarks (in a small number of cases), the Council will either use the offence stated in the data (if there is one) or classify unverified charges into a generic category (e.g. sexual penetration of a child under 16 (not further defined)).

Imprisonment sentence lengths with recognisance release order

Recognisance release orders (RROs) are applied to sentences of imprisonment that meet specified criteria as defined in section 19AC of the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth). When an RRO is imposed, the date of release must be defined at the time of sentencing (this differs from imprisonment with a non-parole period where an offender needs to actively apply for parole, which may be denied and/or a parole application is not made, and the full sentence is served). In practical terms, for RROs, there is a proportion of the total effective sentence that is 'intended to be served' and a proportion that is 'suspended'. Due to the unique requirements of this order, the case-level imprisonment length presented for an imprisonment with RRO sentence is calculated as the period 'intended to be served', that is, the duration between the date of commencement of imprisonment to the date of entry into recognisance (date of release). This period will include any time spent on remand that has been reckoned as time already served.

Accuracy

While every effort is made to ensure that the data is accurate and complete, irregularities may sometimes occur. The data is therefore subject to revision.

Charge-level sentences that exceed the maximum penalty

SACStat shows a small number of charge-level sentences that exceed the maximum penalty for an offence. For example, in the Magistrates' Court, the offence of commit an indictable offence while on bail had 30 charges that appeared to exceed the maximum penalty of 3 months' imprisonment. The 30 charges represent 1.3% of the 1,565 charges where a non-aggregate sentence of imprisonment was imposed in the 3 years to June 2023. These charges are most likely part of an aggregate sentence but were not identified as such in the Courtlink administrative system.

Updates to SACStat data

Higher courts data for Victorian offences is updated yearly. The most recent data update was on 17 July 2024. Previous data updates were released on 30 November 2023, 5 July 2022, 21 July 2021, 28 October 2020, 10 May 2019, 1 August 2017, 31 March 2016, 21 May 2015 and 23 October 2014.

Magistrates' Court data for Victorian offences is updated every two years. The most recent data update was on 4 April 2024 (with minor updates on 1 May 2024). Previous data updates were released on 24 May 2022, 31 October 2019, 1 August 2017, 23 October 2014, 12 June 2013 and 2 October 2012.

Prior to May 2025, sentencing outcomes were available for Commonwealth offences heard in the higher courts, although the data did not distinguish important federal sentencing orders. Sentencing outcomes were not available for Commonwealth offences heard in the Magistrates' Court. Detailed sentencing data is now available for Commonwealth offences heard in both the Magistrates' Court and higher courts.