Crime, Justice and Security Statistics - 2021Highlights
- 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. For example, the Road Traffic Act has been amended in August 2018.
Key points
- Crime, Justice and Security Statistics, Republic of Mauritius, 2020 & 2021
| Key indicator | 2020 | 2021 |
| Overall offence rate (excluding contraventions) per 1,000 population | 43.8 | 57.6 |
| Intentional homicide rate1 per 100,000 population | 2.8 | 2.7 |
| Road traffic contravention rate per 1,000 population | 99.8 | 88.8 |
| Juvenile delinquency rate per 1,000 population | 4.8 | 4.2 |
| Conviction rate2 pronounced in court per 1,000 population (excluding contraventions) | 13.5 | 18.2 |
| Imprisonment rate3 per 100,000 population | 210.7 | 208.4 |
| Average prison occupancy level 4 (%) | 70.9 | 70.1 |
1 Intentional homicide rate excludes "abortion" and "arson causing death"
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
4 Prison population as a percentage of the prison capacity
3. Offences reported to the Police, excluding contraventions, increased by 31.6% from 55,402 in 2020 to 72,935 in 2021 mainly due to a rise of 40.0% in offences related to breach of condition of release on bail and breach of consolidated COVID-19 regulations and partly offset by a decrease in drug offences (-8.4%) from 5,268 to 4,826 during the same period.
4. Road traffic contraventions decreased by 11.0%, from 126,358 in 2020 to 112,454 in 2021. It is to be noted that "exceeding speed limit" decreased by 14.8% from 48,556 to 41,393.
5. Some 20,951 persons were suspected, arrested and/or cautioned in the course of criminal investigations in 2021, up by 8.2% from 19,367 in 2020. The number of persons prosecuted rose by 10.1% from 13,226 in 2020 to 14,556 in 2021.
6. From 2020 to 2021, the number of cases referred by Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to the Intermediate and Supreme Courts decreased by 17.3% from 787 in 2020 to 651 in 2021.
7. The number of criminal cases lodged in Court increased by 8.0% from 69,449 in 2020 to 74,993 in 2021. During the same period, the number of criminal cases disposed of, increased by 28.8% from 50,036 to 64,447.
8. Out of the 3,301 adult convicts admitted in prison in 2021, some 71.6% 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 2021 in the Island of Mauritius compared to Rs 794 in 2020.
10. The number of Probation Orders issued, decreased by 34.6% from 78 in 2020 to 51 in 2021.
11. The number of offenders, subjected to community service orders, increased by 7.6% from 353 in 2020 to 380 in 2021.
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30 June 2022
