Crime rate continues to fall against BPS targets

The Justice Sector has continued to make progress against its Better Public Service targets with further decreases to the total crime rate and youth crime in the latest quarter, Justice Minister Amy Adams said today.

Since June 2011, the total crime rate has dropped 17 percent (1 percent reduction in the June quarter) and the youth crime rate has dropped 33 percent (4 percent reduction in the June quarter).

“Over the past three years, violent and youth crime have continued to fall dramatically, with crime at a 35-year low,” says Ms Adams.

“The sector has successfully met two of its four Better Public Service goals – reducing the total crime rate and the youth crime rate – three years ahead of schedule, and is making progress towards the others. As we signalled during the election campaign, the Government intends to reset the overall crime reduction target to a challenging goal of 20 percent.”

While re-offending is down 12 per cent and the violent crime rate is down 11 per cent since 2011, the re-offending rate did not change in the June quarter and the violent crime rate increased slightly (0.8 per cent).

Ms Adams said there was more work to do to meet the violent crime rate and re-offending rate targets.

“An important focus will be implementing the Government’s suite of reforms announced earlier this year to address family violence. While the sector has achieved much in reducing the total and youth crime rates, it must continue to work to protect our society’s most vulnerable individuals – primarily women and children – from family violence and abuse. Agencies across the justice sector are focused on this task,” says Ms Adams.

The Better Public Service targets – which use June 2011 crime levels as a baseline – are aiming for a 15 per cent reduction in the rate of total crime, a 20 per cent reduction in the rate of violent crime, a 25 per cent reduction in the rate of youth crime and a 25 per cent reduction in the rate of re-offending by 2017.

For more information: www.justice.govt.nz/justice-sector/better-public-services-reducing-crime/progress-updates