Methamphetamine has come to dominate the country’s drug landscape with charges for the drug responsible for more than 50% of drug offences from the past five years.
The changes in charge and conviction rates should be taken into account against a more than 17% rise in the country’s population over the past decade.
Murder conviction rate jumps
Murder convictions have risen by 77% on the previous year.
The 55 murder convictions between July 2023 and June 2024 are 59% higher than the 10-year average number of 35 per year (rounded from 34.7).
(Note: The Christchurch Mosque shootings skewed the number of murder convictions over the past decade with the average number of convictions gained coming to less than 30 per year if the terror attack had not taken place.)
Manslaughter also increases
Forty-seven convictions for manslaughter also make 2023/24 the highest for that offence since 2020/21 – up more than one-third (38%) on the previous year’s 34 convictions.
Attempted murder
Police appear not to be making charges of attempted murder stick with more than half (59%) of 17 charges remaining unproven.
The figure represents the worst outcome in 10 years since 69% of such charges were unproven in 2014/15.
Driving causing death
Convictions for driving causing death are up 22% on the previous year with 2023/24′s 83 convictions the highest since 106 convictions were secured for the offence during 2018/19.
The proportion of successful convictions for the charge has held steady over the past 10 years with this year’s 76% (of 109 charges leading to convictions) closely aligned with the 10-year average of just under 75%.
Family violence
Charges for family violence have grown by 8.15% on the average number over the past 10 years with 31,209 charges in the year spanning 2023/34.
The latest annual figure is the highest number of charges for family violence offences since 2020/21 when 428 more charges (31,637) were laid for family violence offences.
Convictions for family violence charges are holding steady with this year’s 69% rate only marginally below the 10-year average of just over 70%.
Sexual offences
Charges for sexual assault within a family violence context (3022) are up more than 12% on the previous year (2689).
Convictions for sexual offences have risen steadily over the past 10 years with this year’s 3022 convictions 8.29% above the average 2791 convictions over each of the past 10 years.
The statistics show 72.43% of sexual offence charges involved victims under the age of 16.
Drug offences
There has been a gradual shift in the proportion of charges laid for drug offences over the past 10 years.
In 2014/15 cannabis made up the largest number of charges accounting for 47% of 14,521 charges while methamphetamine charges were responsible for just over a third.
By 2023, meth was behind more than 50% of the charges while cannabis had declined to 34%.
The trend was underpinned by the passing of the Misuse of Drugs Amendment Act in 2019, in which a health-based approach allowed police discretion for the prosecution of personal drug use.
The act reinforced the police focus on those who profit from drug dealing as opposed to individual users.
Police laid just over 1400 fewer charges for drug offences in 2023/24 compared with 2014/15.
The 13,112 charges for 2023/24 are nearly 9% less than the average number of charges laid each year for the past decade and more than 3000 less than when charges peaked in 2017.
This year’s 3556 convictions stemming from drug-related charges is a nearly 24% reduction from the number of convictions gained in 2014/15, and more than 750 below the average number of convictions gained annually for the past 10 years.
Discharged without conviction
The number of charges that lead to a discharge without conviction has steadily risen over the past 10 years.
Almost 5000 charges were quashed during 2023/24 – nearly 60% more than 10 years prior.
Traffic and vehicle regulatory offences accounted for the largest proportion, making up just over a third of overturned charges, while acts intended to cause injury and dangerous or negligent acts endangering persons made up just over 18% and 12%, respectively.
Legal aid
More than $270 million was put towards legal aid in the past year, continuing steady growth that had seen the expenditure more than double in the past 10 years.
Applications for civil legal aid surged by nearly 80% on the previous year, with more than a thousand additional applications, and more than $4.5m going towards legal support for family court and civil matters, such as employment disputes.
Meanwhile, criminal, family and Waitangi Tribunal-based applications for aid have increased by 1%, 6% and 2%, respectively, since the previous year.
The effect could be explained by the backlog of cases in the country’s courts following the Covid-19 pandemic which resulted in more than 140,000 court appearances being delayed since March 2020.
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Crime statistics: Murder convictions up 77%, meth dominating drug landscape
