This article is the second part of our three part series exploring theft charges.  See the other articles for an sentencing outcomes from theft in Victoria Australia and overview of theft charges in Victoria Australia.

This article looks at the trend of theft in Victoria from the Victorian Sentencing Advisory Council’s recent report on theft sentencing in Victoria.  This series includes a look at theft charges where theft was either a primary charge or theft was one charge amongst other charges.  The period looked at in the report was from 2012 to 2017.  During this period, the Magistrates’ Court sentenced 45,155 people for proven theft charges with approximately 114,170 theft charges made against those people.  On average, there were 2.5 theft charges made against each person.

Overall, the number of proven theft cases in Victoria has been increasing.  There are other factors that influence this trend including population changes, greater police resources, a stronger focus by authorities in preventing and prosecuting certain crimes, technological factors such as more cameras being used in residential and commercial premises and better security systems and devices.

This table looks at the trend in theft charges overall, the trend in theft charges where theft was the principal offence and the trend in theft charges where theft was not the principal charge.

Reference: Theft: Sentencing Outcomes in the Magistrates' Court of Victoria 2017

 

The table shows that while the number of theft charges leading to sentencing have risen, the number of cases where theft was the principal charge has remained stable overall with a slight reduction from 2015 to 2017.  Conversely, the number of sentencing outcomes where theft was not the principal charge has been increasing.

For more information about theft see our other articles in this series including sentencing outcomes from theft in Victoria Australia and overview of theft charges in Victoria Australia.