Data were gathered from police and court records, as well as national crime victimization surveys. The first section offers data on crimes reported to police for the period 1996 through 2002. During 2002, assault was the most frequently recorded violent crime, comprising 80 percent of all recorded violent crimes. During the period 1996 through 2002, assaults increased by 40 percent. Information is offered about the number of violent events that occurred within each of three types of locations: residential, community, or other. Statistics on fraud and cybercrime indicate that the number of fraud offenses recorded by police increased 11 percent between 2001 and 2002. Section 1 also offers data from five waves of a national crime victim survey, which indicated that in 2002, 8.9 percent of households were victims of at least one household crime in the year preceding the survey. Section 2 presents crime profiles for the following criminal acts: homicide, assault, sexual assault, robbery, unlawful entry with intent, motor vehicle theft, and other theft. During 2002, 363 homicides were committed in Australia; 63 percent of victims were males and 76 percent of male victims knew the offender. Section 3 offers information about alleged offenders according to age and gender. Individuals aged 15 to 19 years were most likely to be processed by police for criminal activities than any other age population; juvenile offending rates were twice as high as those of adults. Males were almost four times more likely than females to be criminal offenders. Section 4 describes the structure of the criminal courts in Australia, as well as the criminal court process from lodgment to sentencing. Section 5 presents information about corrections in Australia, including statistics about the prisoner and community corrections populations. Trends in the juvenile corrective institution population are also examined and show that the overall incarceration rate for juveniles declined an average of 4 to 5 percent annually between 1981 and 2002. Section 6 presents budgets and expenditures for the police, courts, and adult corrective services, while section 7 offers drug-related statistics including information on drug arrests and illicit drug use. Tables, figures, references, contacts