1. Crime, justice and security statistics combines statistics collected by the Central Statistics Office from the Continuous Multi Purpose Household Survey with statistics from the Mauritius Police Force, Judiciary Department and the Mauritius Prison Services.

2. Care should be taken in interpreting these figures. Estimates from surveys are subject to sampling error that tends to be relatively large when the sample numbers are small. When comparing figures it should be realised that police and judiciary figures are based on offences but prison figures are based on offenders, and that many offenders are sentenced for more than one offence. Also, offences reported at the police can sometimes be reclassified during the court process.

Victimisation

3. It is estimated that the number of households that were victims of household burglary, including attempts, decreased from 16,200 in 2004 to 13,600 in 2007.

4. The number of households that were victims of vehicle theft, including attempts as well as damage and theft of parts and accessories, decreased from 13,500 in 2004 to 9,800 in 2007. For personal theft, the number increased from 4,800 to 5,400.
5. The rate of household burglary victimization decreased from 50.5 per 1,000 households in 2004 to 40.3 in 2007. For vehicle theft, the rate decreased from 42.1 to 29.1 but for personal theft it rose from 15.0 to 16.0.
Police

6. The total number of offences reported at the police in 2007 was about 194,000, of which 72.1% were contraventions (mainly road traffic offences), 22.1% misdemeanours, 3.5% crimes punishable by penal servitude and/or a fine exceeding Rs5,000, and 2.3% drug related offences.
7. From 2006 to 2007, the number of offences reported at the police increased by about 3,500 or 1.9%; drug related offences increased by 15.9%, reported crimes by 15.6%, and misdemeanours by 10.2% while contraventions decreased by 1.4%.

Judiciary

8. The total number of criminal cases lodged decreased by 19.5% from 145,514 in 2006 to 117,172 in 2007. Criminal cases disposed of declined by 12.1% from 138,927 to 122,105 during the same period.

9. The total number of convicted offences dropped by 14.3% from 135,820 in 2006 to 116,390 in 2007.
Prisons

10. The daily average number of detainees in prison increased by 0.7% from 2,226 in 2006 to 2,242 in 2007. During the same period, the imprisonment rate rose from 175 to 183 per 100,000 population.

11. Nearly 75% of the prison detainees in 2006 and 2007 consisted of convicts, the remaining 25% being on remand and awaiting trial.