17-year-old males top study of those falling foul of the law

A study has confirmed what you may have suspected - young males are the most likely to fall foul of the law.

Statistics New Zealand yesterday released a report showing patterns in police apprehensions from 2005/06 to 2008/09.

An apprehension is recorded when a person is first spoken to by police and does not necessarily involve an arrest.

The report revealed officers picked up more 17-year-olds than any other age demographic - five times more likely to be male than female.

Statistics New Zealand also calculated the average "seriousness" of the apprehensions based on Ministry of Justice guidelines that take into account the likelihood and length of imprisonment.

"It [the study] is innovative, using a 'seriousness scale', which assigns weights to different offence categories," said social conditions business manager Conal Smith.

The report revealed the average seriousness of offences increased slightly with the age of the person involved. If a young boy had his first brush with the law at 10, his offending was likely to worsen through his teens and peak at 17.

For crime involving property damage, violence and dishonesty - which includes theft - young people were arrested both most often and for the most serious crimes, on average.

"This report on police apprehensions in New Zealand will contribute to the ongoing debate on crime in New Zealand," Mr Smith said.

Over all apprehensions, the median age for offending was 22 years - compared with 19 years for dishonesty and 32 years for sexual offending.

Men accounted for 98 per cent of all sexual crime. "The most notable characteristic of the sexual offence category was that the vast majority are committed by males," the report read.

The median age for sexual offending was 33 years for men and 23 for women.

The study also showed male apprehensions were generally for more serious offences than female, particularly in the violence and dishonesty offence categories.

Police warned or cautioned offenders 13 per cent of the time, rather than making arrests, throughout the four-year period. And generally, the lesser the crime the more likely a caution - 32 per cent for minor assaults versus 2 per cent for grievous assaults.