Latest Better Public Services results: Crime rate continues to fall

Justice sector Better Public Services results for reducing crime and reoffending have been released for the quarter to December 2013. These show the most significant reduction since June 2011. All quarterly results can be dowloaded from the Ministry of Justice website.

Better Public Services set a target of a 15% reduction in total recorded crime and a 20% reduction in recorded violent crime by June 2017. The latest results show the total recorded crime rate has reduced by 14% between June 2011 and December 2013, to the lowest crime rate since 1978. The quarterly results to December 2013 show a drop in recorded youth crime by 27%, violent crime by 10% and overall reoffending by 11.7%.

Justice Minister Judith Collins says "With steady progress being made on these broader targets, the Justice sector is working hard on getting to the heart of crimes that cause significant and life changing harm, such as sexual violence and domestic violence. We are ensuring our Justice sector resources are focused where they are most needed, to achieve enduring results for our most vulnerable people."

The Government announced the Better Public Services '10 challenging results' in March 2012, the targets in June 2012 and released the Action Plans in August 2012. Further information on the targets for reducing crime can be found on the Ministry of Justice website.

For comment on the use of administrative data in measuring trends in family violence over time, see:

Gulliver, P., & Fanslow, J. (2013). Family violence indicators: Can administrative data sets be used to measure trends in family violence in New Zealand? Wellington: SuPERU

and

Gulliver, P., Fanslow, J. (2012). Measurement of family violence at a population level: What might be needed to develop reliable and valid family violence indicators? Auckland, New Zealand: New Zealand Family Violence Clearinghouse, The University of Auckland.

Previous NZFVC news stories are availale on the following data releases:

• the year to June 2012
• the year to March 2013
• the year to September 2013

Media:

Better crime prevention, offender rehabilitation, Beehive, 15.05.2014

Big strides in latest Justice BPS results, Beehive, 28.04.2014