Recorded dishonesty offences decreased 2.9 percent from the previous year with 284,853 offences recorded compared to 293,250 for the previous year. This offence class accounted for the major proportion of all recorded offences excluding traffic offences, at 62.5 percent. There were about 9,000 fewer convictions for non-traffic offences in 1997 than in 1996, while in 1998 the number of convictions increased by about 3,500. Much of the decrease in 1997 was due to the offence of 'failing to register a dog' under the Dog Control Act 1996 becoming an infringement offence. Community care was renamed 'community programme' by the Criminal Justice Amendment Act 1993.
Monetary penalties are fines and reparation.
Traffic offences comprised the largest single category of offences resulting in conviction for each year between 1988 and 1997. In 1997, for example, one-third of all convictions resulted from traffic offences. All charges where death or injury occurred are included in the first two categories of the table.