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People may become victims of armed robbery either in public locations, where they are targeted specifically, or in commercial locations, where they are often incidental targets only. According to figures from the 2006 National Armed Robbery Monitoring Program (NARMP) annual report, people are less likely to be a victim of armed robbery in a commercial location, as they are not the primary target for an offender (Smith & Louis 2009).

In 2006, the number of deaths resulting from assault was less than half that reported in 1997, falling from 327 in 1997 to 148 in 2006 (ABS 2009). The greatest decline occurred between 2003 and 2004, with the annual number of assault-related deaths falling from 268 persons to 161 persons. This represents a 40 percent decrease. Assault-related deaths were consistently higher for males than for females, with a general decline seen for both sexes from 1997 to 2006.

Indicators of child protection rates include total notifications, investigations and substantiations by child protection departments. These rates vary across Australian jurisdictions, however rates have generally increased over the past five years (AIFS 2008). Total national investigations increased from 66,265 (14.7 per 1,000 children aged under 18 years) in 2000–01 to 137,829 (30.4 per 1,000 children) in 2005–06. This represents an increase of approximately 108 percent.

A recent research study by the Australian Institute of Criminology asked businesses to estimate how many computer security incidents they had experienced during the 2007 financial year (Richards 2009). The Australian Business Assessment of Computer User Security (ABACUS) survey defined a computer security incident as any unauthorised use, damage, monitoring attack or theft of your business information technology. A single computer security incident that affected multiple machines was counted as one incident.

A recent research study by the Australian Institute of Criminology asked businesses from each industry sector to estimate how many computer security incidents they had experienced during the 2006–07 financial year (Richards 2009). The Australian Business Assessment of Computer User Security (ABACUS) survey defined a computer security incident as any unauthorised use, damage, monitoring attack or theft of your business information technology. Incidents such as viruses or worms were counted as one incident, not once per infected machine.

The Australian Businesses Assessment of Computer User Security (ABACUS) survey asked businesses to identify the computer security tools that they had used to protect against computer security incidents during the 2007 financial year (Richards 2009). Computer security incidents were defined as any unauthorised use, damage, monitoring attack or theft of your business information technology.

Of the 5,145 Indigenous persons in prison in 2008, nearly 30 percent had been sentenced with assault as their most serious offence (MSO; ABS 2009). Other MSO categories were burglary (14%), offences against justice procedures/government, security and operations (12%) and sexual assault (11%). These four offences accounted for 66 percent of Indigenous sentenced prisoners’ MSOs. Of all Indigenous sentenced prisoners, seven percent had been sentenced with homicide as their MSO.

Between 2000 and 2008, the imprisonment rate for Indigenous Australians increased by 34.5 percent (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2008). In 2000, the imprisonment rate was 1,653 prisoners per 100,000 Indigenous adult population, which increased to 2,223 prisoners per 100,000 Indigenous adult population in 2008. The increase in imprisonment rates for Indigenous people was almost seven times that of non-Indigenous people in the same period.

Indigenous prisoners in custody were 32 percent more likely than non-Indigenous prisoners to have served a prior prison sentence (73% vs 49.6%), according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS 2008). Of those Indigenous prisoners whose most serious current offence or charge fell under ‘homicide and related offences’, more than 62 percent had previously been charged with a prior offence, compared with 35 percent of non-Indigenous prisoners.

The 2004 National drug strategy household survey shows that amphetamine-type stimulants rank second in the most recently used illegal drugs in Australia. Through the quarterly drug testing of police detainees, as part of the Drug use monitoring in Australia (DUMA) program, it is possible to track changes in methylamphetamine use between 2000 and 2004. Applying a logarithmic trend indicates that the proportion of police detainees who tested positive to methylamphetamine has generally increased over this five-year period.

Estimating the extent and cost of computer crime is a critical task for government and industry to ensure that responses are appropriately focused, and that scarce resources are most cost effectively employed to combat the problem. While the sampling method is limited and the results cannot be used to estimate the overall nature, extent and cost of computer crime in Australia, the Annual Computer Crime and Security Survey is an important source of information about trends among those surveyed.

Community corrections comprise of a variety of non-custodial programs. They vary in the extent and nature of supervision, the conditions of the order, and the restrictions on a person's freedom of movement in the community. They generally provide either a non-custodial sentencing alternative or a post-custodial mechanism for reintegrating prisoners into the community under continued supervision. The rate of community corrections in Australia is more than twice as high as the rate of imprisonment, and has been declining in recent years.

Child protection in Australia is the responsibility of community services departments in each state and territory. Following reports and investigation of child abuse or neglect, the community services department has the authority to apply to the relevant court to place the child on a care and protection order. Recourse to the court is usually a last resort used where other attempts at resolution have been exhausted, or where legal authorisation is required to remove the child into out-of-home care.

The 2004 Drug Use Monitoring in Australia (DUMA) annual report found that a higher proportion of adult police detainees suffered from psychological distress than occurs in the general population. This level of distress increased if the detainee was dependent on either drugs or alcohol. The Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) was used to measure the level of anxiety and depressive symptoms a person experienced in the 30 days prior to interview. The method identifies four levels of psychological distress: low, moderate, high and very high.