5.3 Previous Major Offence

The major categories of previous offending(1) revealed a similar profile for men and women. The most common previous offences for which sentences were imposed were property-related. Violent offending was the next most common previous offence type.

Proportionately more females than males had no previous sentences.

Table 5-3 Previous major offence of sentenced inmates

Previous major offence	Female		Male		Total
Previous major offence	Number	Percent	Number	Percent	Number	Percent
Property	83	31.7%	1386	28.7%	1469	28.8%
Violence	22	8.4%	788	16.3%	810	15.9%
Traffic	32	12.2%	703	14.5%	735	14.4%
Misc	20	7.6%	480	9.9%	500	9.8%
Drugs	15	5.7%	237	4.9%	252	4.9%
Sex	0	0.0%	165	3.4%	165	3.2%
No previous	90	34.4%	1074	22.2%	1164	22.8%
Total	262	100.0%	4833	100.0%	5095	100.0%

Percentages may not add to 100 because of rounding.

1 Offence classifications are derived from Police codes and classifications; where there is more than one offence, “most serious offence” ranking is made using Ministry of Justice “seriousness of offence scale”. For more on this see section 15.11 Offence categories.