Federal offender population: 2013

Overall Trends - Admissions:

• Between 2003/2004 and 2012/2013, new Warrant of Committal admissions to custody of women offenders increased just over 16% (from 237 to 275 offenders). Although the number of women offenders was steadily increasing over the past 10 fiscal years, there was a sharp decline of women offender admissions of almost 21% from 2011/2012 to 2012/2013 (from 347 to 275 offenders).
• In the same period (2003/2004 to 2012/2013), the number of men offender admissions increased by 21% (from 3,990 to 4,850 offenders).
• However, relative to male offenders, the proportion of women offenders admitted has increased by only 1 percentage point (to 6%) during this time period.
• The number of women Aboriginal offenders admitted into custody also rose from 60 to 78 (a 30% increase). However, relative to men Aboriginal offenders, the proportion of women Aboriginal offenders admitted has remained the same at about 7%. over this time period.

Length of Sentence:

• The number of new Warrant of Committal admissions for women offenders with shorter sentences of less than 3 years increased by 11% from 143 offenders in 2003/2004 to 159 offenders in 2012/2013. During this period, the relative proportion dropped slightly from 60% to 58%.
• The number of women offenders admitted with sentences between 3 and 6 years increased by almost 17% from 77 to 90 offenders. At the same time, the proportion of women offenders with sentences between 3 and 6 years increased by only 1 percentage point from 32% to 33%.
• The proportion of women offenders serving longer sentences has not changed noticeably over the years. During 2012/2013, 6% had sentences between 6 and 10 years, and no women offenders were admitted with sentences over 10 years. Only 3% of offenders were admitted with indeterminate sentences (including life) during this time period.

Major Offence Categories:

• The proportion of women offenders admitted for a homicide-related offence decreased by 2 percentage points between 2003/2004 and 2012/2013 - from 9% of admissions (21 offenders) to 7% (19 offenders).
• At the same time, the proportion of new admissions for robbery dropped from 18% (40 offenders) to 13% (35 offenders).
• Women offender admissions for property offences (e.g., theft, fraud, break and enter) increased modestly from 18% in 2003/2004 (41 offenders) to 21% in 2012/2013 (55 offenders).
• The proportion of women offenders admitted with drug offences decreased by only 2 percentage points from 31% in 2003/2004 to 29% in 2012/2013.

Custody Rating (Custody Rating Scale):

• Between 2003/2004 and 2012/2013, the number of women offenders rated as minimum security decreased from 133 to 118 offenders (a decrease of 11%). At the same time, the proportion dropped from 56% to 44%.
• There was a 47% increase in the number of women offenders rated as medium security (from 91 to 134 offenders). This resulted in an increase in the proportion of women offenders rated as medium security from 38% in 2003/2004 to 49% in 2012/2013.
• The number of women offenders rated as maximum security increased by 53% (from 13 to 20). However, the proportion of women offenders rated maximum security only increased by 1 percentage point from 6% to 7%.

Reintegration Potential:

• During 2012/2013, 22% of women admitted to custody were rated as having high reintegration potential. Fifty-seven percent were rated as having medium, and 21% as having low reintegration potential.

Age:

• During 2012/2013, almost 43% of women offenders admitted to custody were less than 30 years of age. This represents a decrease of 4 percentage points since 2003/2004.
• The percentage of women offenders who were aged 30 to 49 years decreased from 54% to 47%.
• Women offenders 50 years of age or over at the time of admission to custody increased from 7% to 10% in the same timeframe.

Criminal Associations (from DFIA-R^{Footnote 2}):

• Between 2010/2011 and 2012/13, the percentage of admitted women offenders who had mostly criminal friends increased from 46% to 57%.
• The percentage of women offenders admitted into custody with an existing gang affiliation remained the same at 11%.

Changing Dynamic Factors (Needs from DFIA-R^{Footnote 2a}):

• During 2012/2013, 83% of women offender admissions to custody were identified as having a moderate or high need in the Personal/Emotional domain. Substance Abuse needs were identified 64% of the time. The Attitudes domain was identified in 51% of cases. Fifty-six percent of women offender admissions had Employment needs. Fifty-two percent of offenders had Marital/Family issues and 42% had Community Functioning challenges. Analysis indicated that these percentages have not changed significantly between 2010/2011 and 2012/2013.

Prepared by the Research Branch
Data Source: Data derived from tables in the Offender Management System (OMS) and were extracted on August 23, 2013.