Crime in South Australia

Crime in South Australia is prevented by the South Australia Police (SAPOL), various state and federal courts in the criminal justice system and the state Department for Correctional Services, which administers the prisons and remand centre.

Crime statistics for all categories of offence in the state are provided on the SAPOL website, in the form of rolling 12-month totals.[1] Crime statistics from the 2017–18 national ABS Crime Victimisation Survey show that between the years 2008–09 and 2017–18, the rate of victimisation in South Australia declined for assault and most household crime types.[2]

In 2013 Adelaide was ranked as the safest capital city in the country.[3]

Crime statistics

In 2013, Adelaide was ranked the safest in the country with the lowest rate of crime per population.[3][4] As of June 2018, crime rates across the state had continued to decrease.[2]

Notable crimes
  • Beaumont children disappearance on Australia Day in 1966 - still unsolved.
  • NCA bombing on Waymouth Street in 1994 - A SA Police member and a lawyer were killed.
  • Truro murders - Murders committed by a young man just outside the town of Truro
  • Barossa valley shooting - Police went to arrest a Barossa valley criminal Tony Grosser on various charges, but were shot at. One of the officers, Derrick McManus was shot multiple (14) times but defied medical knowledge and survived.[5]
  • Snowtown murders (1992-1999) - serial killings which occurred mainly in two outer-suburban suburbs of Adelaide, Salisbury and Elizabeth
  • The Family Murders (1970s-mid-1980s). Believed to involve a series of sexual assaults and murders done by a group of perpetrators, though only Bevan Spencer von Einem was charged, and he was found guilty of only one of the murders
  • Murder of Derrance Stevenson (1979) - well known lawyer Stevenson, an associate of Bevan Spencer von Einem, was murdered and his body stuffed into a freezer in his distinctive Parkside home
  • Rundle Street Siege (1976)
  • Shooting of Dr Margaret Tobin, 2002 - Dr Tobin was shot by her criminal colleague, Dr Eric Jean Gacy in Hindmarsh Square. She was transferred to the nearby RAH but could not make it.
  • Rodney Clavell was an ex jail cop and criminal. He had committed more than a dozen offences including gun and traffic offences. He also held up a shop in the Adelaide CBD, shutting down a whole section of the CBD while talking to police negotiators.[6]
  • Murders of Karlie Pearce-Stevenson and Khandalyce Pearce: In the 2010s, the body of a little girl was found stuffed in a suitcase, next to a major highway. It took police months to identify the body and when they did, the girl was named Khandalyce. Her mother was also murdered but her body was found interstate.[7]
  • Jason Downie murdered three locals in Kapunda, in 2010. As he is not Australian citizen, he will be deported after his sentence.[8]
  • A ship carrying 400 kilograms of cocaine was intercepted in March 2022. It was the biggest seizure in South Australian history. [9]
  • The Somerton Man was found on the beach in the 1940s. His identity was not known and neither was the cause of death. In 2022, the authorities were able to discover his identity.

Judicial system

In addition to the various federal courts, justice is administered by the Supreme Court of South Australia, the District Court, the Magistrates Court and the South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

Prisons
Further information: Punishment in Australia

The Department for Correctional Services (DCS) runs the prison service, in South Australia, except for the Adelaide Remand Centre, which is privately managed by Serco,[10][11] and Mount Gambier Prison, which is run by G4S.[12]

Prisons

See also

References
  1. SAPOL crime statistics
  2. "4530.0 - Crime Victimisation, Australia, 2017-18: South Australia". Australian Bureau of Statistics. 13 February 2019. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
  3. "Adelaide's nation's safest city, according to Suncorp study". Adelaide Now. 15 January 2014. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
  4. "Affordable, less traffic, low crime rates, vibrant cultural life ... that's Adelaide". Adelaide Now. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
  5. "Barossa siege gunman Tony Grosser to be electronically monitored for two more years - ABC News". ABC News. 15 June 2017.
  6. "Dangerous ex-prison guard on the run — again". The Advertiser. 20 May 2014.
  7. "Girl in suitcase identified as Khandalyce Kiara Pearce; mother Karlie Jade Pearce-Stevenson found in Belanglo State Forest - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 21 October 2015.
  8. "Jealous Scot Jason Downie jailed for killing Australian girl and parents". BBC News. 17 April 2012.
  9. "Police seize 400kg of cocaine 'destined for all major cities in the country'". ABC News. 31 March 2022.
  10. "Adelaide Remand Centre". Department for Correctional Services. 1 January 2003. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  11. "Full Prison Management". Serco. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  12. "Mount Gambier Prison". Department for Correctional Services. 1 January 2003. Retrieved 8 July 2020.

Further reading
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