The age of physical abuse
victims and the sentence
imposed on their abusers
Christopher Clark
Ministry of Justice
PO Box 180
Wellington
New Zealand
February 2001
1
Background
There is disquiet among some members of the public who perceive that offenders who abuse
children are given lighter sentences than offenders who abuse adults. Their concerns were
brought to the fore in October 2000 when a woman was sentenced to four months
imprisonment for dousing her ten-year-old foster son in petrol and accidentally setting him
alight.
Ministry of Justice researchers undertook a small project to compare the sentences imposed
on offenders charged with physical assault with reference to the age of their victims1. The
research is based on data extracted from the Law Enforcement System (LES) and from court
files for charges involving physical (non-sexual) assaults that were finalised in 1999.
2
Method
Permission was sought from the Department for Courts to undertake a search of files based
in four court locations around New Zealand. These were the Christchurch, Auckland,
Hamilton and Tauranga courts (including both District and High courts).
Data were extracted for the four courts from the Case Monitoring Subsystem of LES for
charges involving physical (non-sexual) assaults that were finalised in 1999. Using this data
and the associated court files, the following information was derived:
•
•
•
Demographic information of the victim – age, gender, ethnicity
Demographic information of the offender – age, gender, ethnicity
Details of the incident – the extent of physical injury inflicted on the victim, the relationship
of the victim to the offender, the charge the offender was convicted of and the sentence
that was imposed.
The data extracted from LES provided information relating to the offender and some of the
information relating to the incident. All of the information relating to the victim of the
assault was gathered from the relevant court files. Where possible, the victim information
was obtained from victim impact statements, pre-sentence reports2, and Judges’ sentencing
notes.
The analysis was performed at a charge-based level because charges are related to incidents
between a single victim and a single offender at a specified time. Thus, two offenders
attacking a single victim would usually result in two charges, as would a single offender
attacking the same victim on two separate occasions.
Physical assault, as opposed to sexual assault was focussed on, as this was the primary concern of the public.
Information relating to the age and gender of victims of sexual assaults is available in Spier, P. 2000, pp 28-30,
Conviction and Sentencing of Offenders in New Zealand: 1990 to 1999, Ministry of Justice, Wellington.
2 Victim impact statements and pre-sentence reports are prepared respectively by the Police and the Community
Probation Service, in collaboration with the relevant parties. They are used as additional information by the
Judge at sentencing.
1
1
3
Description of the sample
Table 1 shows the age group and gender of victims for some physical abuse charges that were
finalised in 1999.
Those aged 20 years or more comprised the largest group of victims (84%). Forty-one
victims were children aged 14 years or less (6%).
Just over half (58%) of the victims were female.
Information relating to the ethnicity of the victim was not available for 84% of the charges
examined. For charges where this information was available, NZ European, Mäori and
Pacific People ethnic groups each had similar numbers of victims.
Table 1
Age group and gender of victims
Number
Percentage
Age of victim
0 – 14 years
15 – 19 years
20 + years1
Total2
41
67
571
679
6.0
9.9
84.1
100.0
Gender of victim
Female
Male
Total3
449
330
779
57.6
42.4
100.0
Notes:
1
The exact age of some victims was not available. However, the researchers assigned them to this age
group based on some other factor such as the victim being married. It is possible that a few victims
recorded as ‘20 + years’ may have fallen into the ‘15 – 19 years’ age group if the exact age of the
victim was known.
2
Excludes 103 charges where information on the age of the victim was not available.
3
Excludes 3 charges where information on the gender of the victim was not available.
Table 2 shows the age group, gender and ethnicity of offenders relating to the charges that
were examined.
An offender must be at least 14 years of age before a charge will be heard in a District or
High Court, except when the defendant is charged with murder or manslaughter, in which
case the defendant must be at least 10 years old. However, most defendants aged between 14
and 16 years will have their charges heard in the Youth Court. It is therefore not surprising
that 87% of the charges examined related to offenders that were aged 20 years or older.
A large majority of offenders (91%) were male.
Just over two-fifths (43%) of offenders were Mäori and just over one-third (36%) of
offenders were NZ European. Pacific offenders comprised 17% of the sample.
2
Table 2
Age group, gender and ethnicity of offenders
Number
Percentage
Age of offender
15 – 19 years
20 + years
Total
103
679
782
13.2
86.8
100.0
Gender of offender
Female
Male
Total
68
714
782
8.7
91.3
100.0
Ethnicity of offender
NZ European
Mäori
Pacific People
Other
Total1
283
335
132
27
777
36.4
43.1
17.0
3.5
100.0
Note:
1
Ethnicity was not available for 5 offenders.
Table 3 shows the relationship between the victim and the offender, as well as whether or not
the victim and offender were living together at the time of the incident.
For almost a third of the charges (32%), the victim was the partner of the offender. The
victim was the ex-partner of the offender in 6% of the charges examined. The victim was the
child of the offender in just over 4% of the charges and the victim was some other type of
family member in 3% of the charges examined. Strangers accounted for almost one-fifth
(20%) of the sample and for another 18%, the nature of the relationship was unknown.
In just over one third of charges (37%), the victim was living with the offender at the time of
the incident.
Table 3
Relationship between victim and offender and whether or not
they were living together
Number
Percentage
Relationship
Partner
Ex-partner
Child
Other family member
Other known to each other1
Stranger
Unknown relationship
Total
248
50
34
25
129
154
142
782
31.7
6.4
4.3
3.2
16.5
19.7
18.2
100.0
Living arrangement
Living together
Not living together
Total2
265
454
719
36.9
63.1
100.0
Notes:
1
For example, neighbours, flatmates etc.
2
Excludes 63 charges where it was unknown whether or not the victim and offender were living
together at the time of the incident. There were some charges where it was obvious that the victim
and offender were not living together, however the exact nature of the relationship could not be
determined.
3
Table 4 provides a percentage breakdown of offence types according to the age group of
victims. The order of the offence types is an approximate order of the seriousness of each
offence. The most serious offence examined is at the top of the list (manslaughter) and the
least serious offence examined is at the bottom of the list (common assault). For comparison
purposes, the distribution of all physical (non-sexual) assaults resulting in conviction in 1999
is shown.
Over half of the incidents where the victim was aged 14 years or less resulted in the offender
being charged with assault on a child (59%). Most of the remaining incidents where the
victim was young resulted in the offender being charged with common assault under the
Summary Offences Act 1981 (17%), injuring with intent to injure (7%) or assault with a
weapon (7%). The most frequent offence examined where the victim was 20 years or older
was male assaults female (41%). Offenders with victims aged 15 years or more (15 – 19 years
and 20 + years) had a slightly larger representation in the more serious offences than
offenders with victims aged 14 years or less.
Table 4
Offence types according to age group of victims: percentages
Manslaughter
Wounding with intent to cause GBH1
Injuring with intent to cause GBH2
Wounding with intent to injure
Injuring with intent to injure3
Aggravated assault
Assault with intent to injure
Assault with a weapon
Male assaults female
Assault on a child
Common assault (Crimes4)
Common assault (Summary5)
Total
0 – 14 years 15 – 19 years
(n=41)
(n=67)
0.0
0.0
0.0
3.0
2.4
3.0
0.0
4.5
7.3
9.0
0.0
1.5
0.0
1.5
7.3
10.5
2.4
32.8
58.5
0.0
4.9
20.9
17.1
13.4
100.0
100.0
20 + years
(n=571)
2.3
4.4
1.2
1.1
4.9
3.0
3.9
7.0
41.2
0.0
13.7
17.5
100.0
All ages
(n=782)
1.7
4.6
1.4
1.3
5.1
3.2
3.7
7.4
35.2
3.1
14.5
18.9
100.0
All 1999
(n=10733)
0.3
1.2
0.6
0.9
2.5
1.2
3.1
6.6
28.4
2.8
23.4
29.1
100.0
Notes:
1
Grievous bodily harm. This category also includes aggravated wounding.
2
Grievous bodily harm. This category also includes aggravated injuring.
3
Also includes poisoning with intent to injure, performing dangerous acts with intent to injure and injuring by an
unlawful act.
4
Crimes Act 1961.
5
Summary Offences Act 1981.
4
4
Sentence imposed
There are many factors that a judge may consider when deciding on an appropriate sentence.
This section provides details on three of these factors, namely the offence that the offender
was charged with, the extent of physical injury that occurred and the vulnerability of the
victim (as indicated by age). It is important to note that there are many other factors (for
example circumstances of the offender) that influence a judge’s sentencing decision.
Table 5 provides a percentage breakdown of the most serious sentence imposed on an
offender according to the age group of the victim of the offence.
Imprisonment was more likely to result from charges relating to offences against victims aged
14 years or less (39%) than against victims aged 20 years or more (30%)3. Imprisonment was
imposed on the offender in 34% of charges relating to victims aged 15 to 19 years. Periodic
detention was equally likely to be imposed in relation to charges involving victims aged 14
years or less and victims aged 20 years or more (around 22%). A monetary penalty was less
likely to be imposed in relation to charges involving young victims (5%) than charges
involving older victims (16%). An outcome of sentence if called upon or convicted and
discharged were equally likely for younger and older victims (around 7% and 3% respectively).
Table 6 provides a percentage breakdown of the most serious sentence imposed on offenders
according to the extent of physical injury inflicted on the victims. The Ministry of Justice
researchers who were searching the court files classified the extent of injuries inflicted on the
victim as follows:
• if the victim died then the extent of injury was recorded as ‘death’;
• otherwise, if a court file mentioned that the victim was admitted to hospital or visited an
emergency room then the extent of injury was recorded as ‘hospitalisation required’;
• otherwise, if the file mentioned that the victim consulted some other health professional,
(for example GP or dentist) then the extent of injury was recorded as ‘medical treatment
required’;
• otherwise, if the file mentioned that the victim suffered some sort of physical injuries (for
example bruising) then the extent of injury was recorded as ‘minor physical injury’;
• otherwise, if the file mentioned that the victim did not suffer any physical injury then the
extent of injury was recorded as ‘no physical injury’;
• otherwise the extent of injury was recorded as ‘unknown’.
No judgements were made as to the extent of emotional or psychological injuries that the
victims suffered.
Of the thirteen charges that resulted in the death of the victim, almost all (92%) resulted in a
sentence of imprisonment for the offender. The one charge in which the victim died and the
most serious sentence given to the defendant was community service was for a work-related
incident in which the victim was an employee of the defendant. A suspended term of
imprisonment was also given to the defendant as a result of this incident.
Imprisonment was the most likely sentence (71%) to be imposed on offenders for incidents
resulting in the hospitalisation of victims. Imprisonment was slightly more likely to be
Although this difference was almost 10%, there was insufficient evidence to reject the hypothesis that these
two proportions were equal when a statistical test of significance was conducted.
3
5
imposed on offenders than periodic detention for incidents resulting in medical treatment for
victims (37% compared with 25%).
Almost a fifth (20%) of the incidents resulting in minor physical injuries to the victim resulted
in a custodial sentence being imposed on the offender, 26% resulted in a sentence of periodic
detention being imposed and 22% resulted in a sentence of supervision.
Assaults that resulted in no physical injuries to the victim resulted in a similar proportion of
custodial sentences (20%) as those where there was only minor physical injuries. However,
charges where there was no injury were much more likely to result in a sentence if called upon
than offences involving any sort of injury.
6
Table 5
Most serious sentence imposed on offenders according to age group of victims: percentages1
0 – 14 years
15 – 19 years
20 + years
All ages
Custodial
Periodic
detention
39.0
34.3
29.6
31.0
22.0
31.3
21.4
22.5
(n=41)
(n=67)
(n=571)
(n=782)
Community Community Supervision
care
service
0.0
0.0
1.2
0.9
7.3
7.5
3.5
4.5
14.6
16.4
18.0
16.8
Monetary
4.9
6.0
15.6
14.2
Suspended
prison
sentence
2.4
0.0
0.7
0.6
Sentence if
called upon
7.3
3.0
7.0
6.8
Convicted
and
discharged
2.4
1.5
3.0
2.8
Total
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
Note:
1
Age group of victim was unknown for 103 charges.
Table 6
Most serious sentence imposed on offenders according to extent of physical injury inflicted on victims: percentages1
Death
Hospitalisation required
Medical treatment required
Minor physical injuries
No physical injuries
(n=13)
(n=79)
(n=150)
(n=402)
(n=92)
Custodial
Periodic
detention
92.3
70.9
36.7
19.7
19.6
0.0
8.9
24.7
26.1
15.2
Community Community Supervision
care
service
0.0
0.0
0.0
1.2
2.2
7.7
5.1
5.3
4.2
4.4
0.0
5.1
15.3
21.9
16.3
Monetary
0.0
6.3
12.7
15.7
19.6
Suspended
prison
sentence
0.0
0.0
0.7
1.0
0.0
Sentence if
called upon
0.0
1.3
4.0
6.7
18.5
Convicted
and
discharged
0.0
2.5
0.7
3.5
4.4
Total
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
Note:
1
Extent of physical injury inflicted on the victim was unknown for 46 charges.
7
Table 7 provides a percentage breakdown of the most serious sentence imposed on offenders
for each offence type. The order of the offence types is an approximate order of the
seriousness of each offence.
The most frequent type of offence examined was male assaults female (275). Male assault
female charges usually resulted in a sentence of supervision (27%), periodic detention (27%)
or imprisonment (22%) being imposed on the offender. The next most frequent type of
offence examined was common assault under the Summary Offences Act 1981 (148). Almost
one-third of these common assault charges resulted in a monetary penalty being imposed on
the offender (30%). A quarter of these charges resulted in periodic detention being imposed
(25%).
Of the 41 incidents with victims aged 14 years or less, 24 incidents resulted in the offender
being charged with assault on a child. A quarter (25%) of the assault on a child charges
resulted in a sentence of imprisonment being imposed on the offender, a quarter (25%)
resulted in a sentence of periodic detention and just over one-fifth (21%) of the assault on a
child charges resulted in a sentence of supervision.
Generally, offenders convicted of more serious offences received more serious sentences and
offenders convicted of less serious offences received less serious sentences.
Table 8 provides a percentage breakdown of the most serious sentence imposed on offenders
according to the age group of victims and the extent of physical injury inflicted on victims.
The extent of physical injury reflects incidents that were similar in seriousness.
For incidents resulting in the hospitalisation of victims, imprisonment was more likely to be
imposed on offenders when the victims were aged 14 years or less (83%) than when victims
were aged 20 years or more (71%). However, due to the small number of victims aged 14
years or less (6), this observation should be treated with caution. For incidents resulting in
medical treatment or minor physical injuries, imprisonment was slightly more likely to be
imposed on offenders when the victims were aged 14 years or less than when victims were
aged 20 years or more.
Approximately the same proportion of community-based sentences were imposed on
offenders involved in incidents with young victims as were imposed on offenders involved in
incidents with older victims, for all injury types.
8
Table 7
Most serious sentence imposed according to offence type: percentages
Custodial
Manslaughter
Wounding with intent to cause GBH1
Injuring with intent to cause GBH2
Wounding with intent to injure
Injuring with intent to injure3
Aggravated assault
Assault with intent to injure
Assault with a weapon
Male assaults female
Assault on a child
Common assault (Crimes4)
Common assault (Summary5)
(n=13)
(n=36)
(n=11)
(n=10)
(n=40)
(n=25)
(n=29)
(n=58)
(n=275)
(n=24)
(n=113)
(n=148)
92.3
94.4
90.9
70.0
55.0
68.0
44.8
39.7
22.2
25.0
21.2
8.8
Periodic
detention
0.0
0.0
0.0
10.0
17.5
8.0
17.2
25.9
26.9
25.0
25.7
25.0
Community Community Supervision
care
service
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
4.0
0.0
0.0
1.8
0.0
0.0
0.7
7.7
2.8
0.0
10.0
0.0
0.0
6.9
5.2
2.6
12.5
7.1
6.1
0.0
0.0
9.1
0.0
15.0
4.0
17.2
15.5
27.3
20.8
13.3
9.5
Monetary
0.0
2.8
0.0
0.0
12.5
16.0
10.3
5.2
8.7
0.0
23.9
29.7
Suspended
prison
sentence
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
3.5
0.0
1.1
4.2
0.0
0.0
Sentence if
called upon
0.0
0.0
0.0
10.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
3.5
7.3
12.5
5.3
14.2
Total
Convicted
and
discharged
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
5.2
2.2
0.0
3.5
6.1
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
Notes:
1
Grievous bodily harm. This category also includes one charge of aggravated wounding.
2
Grievous bodily harm. This category also includes one charge of aggravated injuring.
3
Also includes one charge of poisoning with intent to injure, two charges of performing dangerous acts with intent to injure and two charges of injuring – if death ensued then manslaughter.
4
Crimes Act 1961.
5
Summary Offences Act 1981.
9
Table 8
Most serious sentence imposed according to age group of
victims and extent of physical injury inflicted on victims:
percentages1
Hospitalisation required
Custodial
Community-based2
Monetary
Sentence if called upon
Convicted and discharged
Total
0 – 14 years 15 – 19 years 20 + years
(n=6)
(n=9)
(n=58)
83.3
77.8
70.7
16.7
22.2
15.5
0.0
0.0
8.6
0.0
0.0
1.7
0.0
0.0
3.5
100.0
100.0
100.0
Medical treatment required
Custodial
Community-based
Monetary
Suspended prison sentence
Sentence if called upon
Convicted and discharged
Total
(n=7)
42.9
42.9
14.3
0.0
0.0
0.0
100.0
(n=22)
45.5
45.5
9.1
0.0
0.0
0.0
100.0
(n=114)
35.1
46.5
11.4
0.9
5.3
0.9
100.0
Minor physical injuries
Custodial
Community-based
Monetary
Suspended prison sentence
Sentence if called upon
Convicted and discharged
Total
(n=19)
31.6
52.6
5.3
5.3
0.0
5.3
100.0
(n=33)
15.2
72.7
6.1
0.0
3.0
3.0
100.0
(n=295)
19.3
52.9
17.0
1.0
6.8
3.1
100.0
No physical injuries
Custodial
Community-based
Monetary
Sentence if called upon
Convicted and discharged
Total
(n=7)
14.3
42.9
0.0
42.9
0.0
100.0
(n=3)
33.3
33.3
0.0
33.3
0.0
100.0
(n=76)
19.7
35.5
23.7
15.8
5.3
100.0
Notes:
1
This table excludes 13 charges where the extent of injury was death as all related victims were aged 20
years or older. This table also excludes 120 charges where the age of the victim was unknown and/or
the extent of physical injury was unknown.
2
Includes periodic detention, community care, community service and supervision.
10
Table 9 shows the average custodial sentence length (in months) imposed on offenders,
according to the extent of physical injury inflicted on victims and the age group of victims.
The average term of imprisonment imposed on an offender for assaulting a child aged 14
years or less was 11.4 months, compared with 16.7 months for assaulting an adult aged 20
years or more4. This finding of slightly shorter average terms of imprisonment when the
victim was young was evident among most levels of physical injury. However, due to the
small number of young victims (15), this observation should be treated with caution. The
average term of imprisonment for assaulting a person aged 15 to 19 years was 17.5 months.
As seen in table 4, offenders with victims aged 15 years or more (15 – 19 years and 20 +
years) had a slightly larger representation in the more serious offence types than offenders
with victims aged 14 years or less. This may have been a contributing factor to the perceived
difference in average custodial sentence lengths imposed on offenders with young victims to
custodial sentence lengths imposed on offenders with older victims. There was not enough
data to examine this more thoroughly.
Table 9
Average custodial sentence length in months according to
extent of physical injury and age group of victims1
Hospitalisation required
Medical treatment required
Minor physical injuries
No physical injuries
All types of injuries
0 – 14 years 15 – 19 years 20 + years
(n=15)
(n=23)
(n=153)
17.6
17.8
31.3
13.8
24.6
12.9
6.0
4.6
10.4
6.0
9.0
11.3
11.4
17.5
16.7
Note:
1
This table excludes 12 charges where the extent of injury was death and the most serious sentence was
imprisonment, as all related victims were aged 20 years or older. This table also excludes 39 charges
where the age of the victim was unknown and/or the extent of physical injury was unknown.
Although this difference was just over 5 months, there was insufficient evidence to reject the hypothesis that
these two averages were equal when a statistical test of significance was conducted.
4
11
5
Summary
Ministry of Justice researchers searched 782 court files, all relating to physical (non-sexual)
abuse charges. Demographic information about the victim and offender was collected from
these files, as well as information about the incident. The sentences imposed for these
charges were compared for victims of different ages.
Most (84%) of the victims were aged at least 20 years, with 6% being aged 14 years or less.
Just over half (58%) of the victims were female. The offender was the partner or ex-partner
of the victim for 38% of charges and was a stranger for 20% of charges.
Offenders who physically abused children aged 14 years or less did not appear to receive less
serious sentences than offenders who abused adults. Of the 41 charges involving victims
aged 14 years or less, 16 charges (39%) resulted in a custodial sentence being imposed on the
offender. Of the 67 charges involving victims aged 15 to 19 years, 23 charges (34%) resulted
in a custodial sentence being imposed on the offender. Of the 571 charges involving victims
aged 20 years or more, 169 (30%) resulted in a custodial sentence being imposed.
Offenders who physically abused children aged 14 years or less may have received slightly
shorter custodial sentences, on average, than offenders who abused adults. The average
custodial sentence imposed on offenders with victims aged 14 years or less was 11.4 months.
The average custodial sentence imposed on offenders with victims aged 15 to 19 years was
17.5 months. The average custodial sentence imposed on offenders with victims aged 20
years or more was 16.7 months. The longer average sentence length imposed on offenders
with older victims may be attributable to the more serious types of offences these offenders
tended to be charged with.
The extent of injuries received by the victim had an important bearing on the sentence
imposed by the judge. For incidents with similar amounts of physical injury inflicted on the
victim, the offender was generally more likely to be sentenced to imprisonment if the victim
was 14 years old or younger than if the victim was 20 years old or older. Community-based
sentences were approximately equally likely for offenders with young victims and offenders
with older victims, regardless of the extent of physical injury inflicted on the victim.
12