Submission to the Special Commission of Inquiry into the Drug ICE

1. Submission to the Special Commission of Inquiry into the Drug ICE Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research Jackie Fitzgerald 1 May 2019

2. About BOCSAR • The Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) is a unit within the NSW Department of Justice. • BOCSAR’s aims are to: • identify factors that affect the distribution and frequency of crime; • identify factors that affect the effectiveness, efficiency or equity of the criminal justice system; • ensure that information on these factors and on crime and justice trends is available and accessible to policy makers, administrators and others • BOCSAR’s four main areas of activity include: • developing and maintaining statistical databases on crime and criminal justice; • conducting research on crime and criminal justice issues and problems; • monitoring trends in crime and criminal justice; • providing information and advice on crime and criminal justice in NSW

3. Outline of Amphetamine Data held by BOCSAR • BOCSAR holds data on all stages of the criminal justice system from police recorded incidents, through the court process to prison. This pack shows amphetamine records at each of these stages. • Police recorded criminal incidents: these are offences that come to the attention of police. In the case of drug offences these are generally detected through policing activity as drug offences are not generally reported by the public. Consequently, recorded criminal incidents are not a pure measure of the prevalence of drug use or dealing as the data is influenced by policing priorities and law enforcement practices. NSW Police record the drug type involved in incidents and that is what is reported here. • Court data: reflects criminal matters that are finalised by the courts. Individual defendants can have one or more charges. The reporting here shows some charge counts and some offender counts. The amphetamine attribution is based on information on the court record . • Prison data: BOCSAR holds a subset of all custody data. We hold data on the broad offence classification of people in prison for ‘Drug Offences’. However we do not have information on the specific drug involved.

4. NSW Police Recorded Crime Data Trends in Amphetamine and Ecstasy offences recorded by NSW police

5. Recorded incidents of amphetamine possession rose 250% in the 7 years from 2009 to 2016. • The all-time peak number of recorded incidents of amphetamine possession was in 2016. After this there was a decline in 2017 and then an increase in 2018 • Ecstasy possession is less prevalent than amphetamine possession. • Ecstasy possession started rising after amphetamines and the increase has not been as great. • Recorded incidents of ecstasy possession rose 131% in the 7 years from 2011 to 2018.

6. Recorded detections of amphetamine dealing rose 250% in the 7 years from 2009 to 2016. This increase mirrors the change and timing of the increase in amphetamine possession. • Detections for amphetamine dealing peaked in 2016 but declined in the two years following. • Recorded ecstasy dealing/trafficking incidents increased by 70% from 2011 to 2018. However, visual inspection of the series shows that the pattern is generally much flatter than for amphetamines.

7. DUMA data reflect urinalysis test results provided by consenting offenders detained in police custody at two Sydney police stations. Results show: • While Surry Hills data is only available for 5 years, over that time the pattern of amphetamine use appears reasonably stable albeit at a very high level • Amphetamine use among Bankstown offenders has increased over the past 15 years. • Supporting police data shown above, amphetamine use among the DUMA sample was slightly lower in 2017 than in 2016. Source: Drug Use Monitoring Australia (DUMA) Australian Institute of Criminology

8. Map shows the rate of amphetamine possession detections across NSW. Highest rates are generally in regional NSW and lowest in Sydney.

9. The rate of amphetamine possession is high in Inner Sydney in part due to the high transient population in this area.

10. These maps show the rate of recorded amphetamine dealing incidents across NSW. As with possession incidents, rates are generally highest in regional areas compared with Sydney.

13. Persons of interest (POIs) legally proceeded against by NSW Police • Amphetamine POIs are most likely to be: • Male (three-quarters) • Aged 30-39 or 18-29 (both roughly a third) • Non-Aboriginal (about three quarters) • The majority have no prior amphetamine charges • Display similar age/gender/Indigenous characteristics between dealing and possession offenders

14. Justice responses to Amphetamine offences

15. Percentage of recorded amphetamine incidents with a legal action commenced by police within 90 days, 2009 to 2018 • The legal action rate for recorded amphetamine incidents is very high (above 70%) and roughly equivalent for both dealing and possession • In 2018, 99.6% of amphetamine possession POIs were proceeded against to court. A handful of offenders were given a youth caution.

16. In 2018, there were 8,428 amphetamine charges finalised in NSW criminal courts. Of these, 74% were for possession, 21% were for non-commercial dealing charge and 4% were for commercial dealing offences. Note, individual defendants can have multiple charges. Possession matters were largely heard in the Local Court. Dealing offences largely in the District Court.

17. The pattern of charges closely reflects the pattern of police recorded incidents. After each offence type is listed a % change which is the change over ten years from 2009 to 2018. The biggest increase was in amphetamine possession (up 285%) followed by dealing/trafficking (up 207%)

18. The conviction rate among people charged with an amphetamine offence is very high. In 2018, 91% of people charged with an amphetamine offence were convicted; similar to the overall conviction rate. Of people charged with possess amphetamine (the most common charge) 89% were convicted Of people charged with non-commercial dealing, 96% were convicted.

19. About ¾ of offenders found guilty of a amphetamine possession had a prior conviction, for any offence, in the past five years (73%). One in five (20%) had a prior conviction for a domestic violence related offence and almost a quarter (24%) had a prior prison sentence. • Prior offending was higher among non-commercial dealing offenders and lower among commercial dealing offenders

20. The proportion of amphetamine offenders with a prior convictions and prior custodial sentence has increased among people found guilty of possession and non-commercial dealing .

21. Penalties for persons convicted of an amphetamines charge as their principal offence, 2018 Average fine amount $ 495 • The most common penalty for amphetamine possession was a fine (64% of offenders) • The most common penalty for amphetamine dealing was prison (53% of offenders)

22. 168% increase in the number of persons sentenced to prison for an amphetamines related charge over the last 15 years • In 2018, 374 additional offenders were sentenced to prison for an amphetamines related charge than in 2004.

23. Imprisonment rates for the dominant amphetamine offences have remained reasonably stable over the period shown. This suggests that the increase in imprisonment is due to the increased volume of amphetamine offenders coming to court rather than a change in sentencing practices.

24. Chart shows the number of people in prison for a drug offence (both remand and sentenced custody). The volume increased by about 50% in the six years from 2013 to 2019. Not all of these are amphetamine offenders. However, court records show that, over the time period, the volume of amphetamine offenders sentenced to prison increased more than for any other drug. In 2018 half the drug offenders sentenced to prison were involved in an amphetamine offence.