Men in Australia are more than three times more likely to commit crime than women, although the number of female offenders remains on the rise, new national crime data shows.
The number of female offenders rose for the fifth consecutive year, with a two per cent increase in 2016-17 to 97,913 offenders, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Despite a two per cent decrease, male offenders still numbered 314,997.
Crime rates dropped in Australia by one per cent, down to 413,894 offenders, since 2015-16.
The data also showed a decrease in drug offences and homicides over the past seven years, while theft and robbery or extortion were on the rise.
Illicit drug offences remained the most common offence (20 per cent), followed by acts intended to cause injury – the majority being assault.
Western Australia recorded the largest increase in the offender rate for assaults, while the Northern Territory continued to have the highest assault rate, followed by South Australia.
The increased trend of sexual assaults and related offences continued into a sixth year, marking a 40 per cent rise in offenders since 2010-11 (an increase of 2327 offenders).
Illicit drug offences among Australian youth increased by nearly 30 per cent in the past seven years, despite an overall 28 per cent decrease in youth criminal offending rates.
The largest decrease in youth offending was related to public order offences (down by 50 per cent, or 5105 offenders) and theft (down by 16 per cent, or 3663).
Although the figures for indigenous offending rates were incomplete due to the quality of reporting, data presented showed acts intended to cause injury were the most common offences among the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population.
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