21 June 2002

A Ministry of Justice report comparing New Zealand’s violent crime rate to other countries puts this nation significantly below the United States, Canada, England & Wales while slightly higher than Australia, Justice Minister Phil Goff said.

“The rate of total recorded violent crime for America in 2000 was almost four times the rate for New Zealand.

“Using the American definitions of violent crime, the rate in the USA was 506.1 offences per 100,000 people compared to 132.6 in New Zealand.

“It is a similar story comparing New Zealand with Canada. Using Canadian definitions, New Zealand’s rate is 44 percent lower.

“And the violent crime rate in England and Wales was 13 percent higher than New Zealand in 2000 “

“In accordance with the Australian definition of violent crime, that country’s offending rate was 9.8 percent lower than New Zealand in 2000.

“New Zealand and Australia had very similar rates for homicide per capita, however Australia was higher in sexual assault and robbery. New Zealand’s higher assault rate was the major reason its overall figure was greater.

“Overall the results have to be treated with a degree of caution. The New Zealand definition of violent crime has had to be adjusted for comparisons to other countries to reduce definitional differences.

“Other factors include differing rates in each country of reporting and recording crime, differences in rules by which multiple offences are counted etc.” Mr Goff said.

The report can be viewed/downloaded at the Ministry of Justice website www.justice.govt.nz

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