Crime, Justice and Security Statistics - Year 2018
Highlights
1. Crime, justice and security statistics comprises statistics compiled from the Mauritius Police Force, the Office of Director of Public Prosecutions, the Judiciary, the Mauritius Prison Service & the Probation and Aftercare Service.
2. Care should be taken in interpreting these figures. When comparing figures, it should be realised that police and judiciary figures are based on offences but prison and probation figures are based on offenders, and that many offenders are sentenced for more than one offence. Offences reported at the police can sometimes be reclassified as they proceed from police investigation through prosecution to final court sentence. Also trends in certain offences are subject to fluctuations as a result of sensitisation/awareness campaigns and intelligence-led operations.
Key points
Crime, Justice and Security Statistics, Republic of Mauritius, 2017 & 2018 |
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2017 |
2018 |
Overall offence rate (excluding contraventions) per 1,000 population |
37.8 |
35.9 |
Intentional homicide rate1 per 100,000 population |
2.5 |
2.8 |
Road traffic contravention rate per 1,000 population |
189.9 |
192.4 |
Juvenile delinquency rate per 1,000 population |
5.2 |
5.6 |
Conviction rate2 pronounced in court per 1,000 population (excluding contraventions) |
22.5 |
20.1 |
Imprisonment rate3 per 100,000 population |
178.8 |
193.4 |
Average prison occupancy level 4 (%) |
68.7 |
74.7 |
1 Intentional homicide rate excludes "abortion" and "arson causing death" |
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2 Number of offences that led to conviction (as opposed to the number of persons convicted) per 1,000 population |
3 Daily average number of detainees per 100,000 population |
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4 Prison population as a percentage of the prison capacity |
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3. Offences reported to the police, exclusive of contraventions, decreased by 4.9% from 47,792 to 45,457 in 2018, mainly due to drop in theft (-16.9%).
4. Road traffic contraventions increased by 1.4%, from 240,101 in 2017 to 243,425 in 2018, mainly due to “motor vehicle licence not affixed” which increased from 10,588 to 12,376 (+16.9%) and “failing to produce driving licence on demand” (+14.4%).
5. Some 19,156 persons were suspected, arrested and/or cautioned in the course of criminal investigations in 2018, down by 26.1% from 25,936 in 2017. The number of persons prosecuted decreased by 23.7% from 15,491 in 2017 to 11,823 in 2018.
6. From 2017 to 2018, the number of cases referred by the Office of Director of Public Prosecutions to the Intermediate and Supreme Courts decreased by 7.1% from 1,444 to 1,342.
7. The number of criminal cases lodged increased by 1.3% from 99,885 in 2017 to 101,208 in 2018. During the same period, the number of criminal cases disposed of dropped by 3.9% from 103,387 to 99,334.
8. Out of the 3,627 adult convicts admitted to prison in 2018, some 70.2% were re-offenders who had been imprisoned in the past, regardless of any observation period.
9. An average amount of Rs 800 was spent daily to maintain a detainee in 2018 in the Island of Mauritius.
10. In 2018, some 254 probation orders were issued, representing a rise of 19.8% compared to 212 in 2017.
11. The number of offenders, subjected to community service orders, decreased by 0.8% from 611 in 2017 to 606 in 2018.
June 2019
