An Overview of Theft Sentencing in Victoria from 2012 to 2017

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

The Victorian Sentencing Advisory Council recently undertook an investigation of sentencing outcomes in Victoria Australia, for the crime of theft.  The report looks at those cases where the charge of theft was proven.  The report looked at proven charges where theft was a primary charge made by the police, the only 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.

What is Theft?

The Crimes Act 1958 (Vic) section 72, defines theft as:

A person steals if he dishonestly appropriates property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it.

A Breakdown of Theft Sentencing Outcomes in Victoria Australia

A Breakdown of Theft Sentencing Outcomes Across Theft Categories

The report looked at five different categories of theft and the resulting numbers of charges laid for each category of theft.  Between 2012 to 2017, the number of theft charges laid in each category are:

 

Theft Type	Number of theft charges	% of theft charges laid in these categories
General theft (all types of theft not included below)	56,710	49.67%
Theft from a shop	41,528	36.37%
Theft of a motor vehicle	10,714	9.39%
Theft from a motor vehicle	4,502	3.94%
Theft of a bicycle	716	.63%

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

 

 

The report shows that general theft is the most common type of theft charge, followed by theft from a shop, then theft from a motor vehicle, then theft of a motor vehicle and finally theft of a bicycle.  As there is an average of 2.5 charges per person, there is likely to be over in some theft charges in addition to multiple theft charges.  For example, a person could be charged with theft of a motor vehicle as well as theft from a motor vehicle at the same time or multiple charges where a person steals several items from a shop.  Please note, this report does not include unreported theft, theft where there was no charges laid or where the charge of theft could not be proven.

 

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

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