Recklessly causing serious injury

Legislation: Crimes Act 1958 (Vic) s 17

Maximum penalty: 15 years imprisonment

Period: 1 July 2019 to 30 June 2024

Jurisdiction: higher courts

Charges

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Cases

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All outcomes

Males

Females

Aged under 25

Aged 25 to 54

Aged 55 and over

*Note: unavailable options have under 10 cases

Charge data

In the higher courts, 203 charges of recklessly causing serious injury were sentenced in the five years to 30 June 2024. The most common sentence for a charge of this offence was imprisonment (86.7% or 176 charges).

On SACStat, a charge is a single count of a sentenced offence. Charge data is most useful in understanding how a specific crime is usually sentenced.

Case data

In 177 cases sentenced in the higher courts in the five years to 30 June 2024, recklessly causing serious injury was the principal proven offence (the most serious crime in the case). Among the 177 cases, 161 people were male and 16 people were female. The most common outcome for cases was imprisonment (68.9% or 122 cases).

A case is a collection of one or more charges against a person or company sentenced at the one hearing. Case data is most useful in understanding the total sentence usually imposed on people found guilty of a particular crime.

Bar graph showing sentence types imposed for charges of recklessly causing serious injury — **Figure 1**: Sentencing outcomes for all charges of recklessly causing serious injury
**Number: 203 charges**

Bar graph showing imprisonment lengths for charges of recklessly causing serious injury — **Figure 2**: Imprisonment lengths for charges of recklessly causing serious injury
**Number: 166 charges**
**Range and median**: The shortest imprisonment length is 0.11 years, the longest is 7.5 years, and the median is 3.25 years, meaning that half of the imprisonment lengths are below 3.25 years and half are above.
**Note**: The graph only includes imprisonment that was not part of an aggregate sentence (non-aggregate imprisonment).

Bar graph showing lengths of community correction orders for charges of recklessly causing serious injury — **Figure 4**: Community correction order lengths for charges of recklessly causing serious injury
**Number: 18 charges**
**Range and median**: The shortest community correction order length is 1 year, the longest is 3 years, and the median is 3 years, meaning that half of the community correction order lengths are below 3 years and half are above.

Stacked bar graph showing sentences imposed each year for charges of recklessly causing serious injury — **Figure 6**: Sentencing outcomes for all charges of recklessly causing serious injury by financial year
**Number: 203 charges**

Bar graph showing the number of charges each year for the offence of recklessly causing serious injury — **Figure 7**: Number of charges of recklessly causing serious injury by financial year
**Number: 203 charges**

Bar graph showing imprisonment lengths each year for charges of recklessly causing serious injury — **Figure 8**: Average imprisonment lengths for charges of recklessly causing serious injury by financial year
**Number: 166 charges**
**Note**: The graph only includes imprisonment that was not part of an aggregate sentence (non-aggregate imprisonment).

Bar graph showing community correction order lengths each year for charges of recklessly causing serious injury — **Figure 9**: Average community correction order lengths for charges of recklessly causing serious injury by financial year
**Number: 18 charges**

Bar graph showing sentence types for all offenders for cases of recklessly causing serious injury — **Figure 11A**: Sentencing outcomes for all people for cases of recklessly causing serious injury
**Number: 177 cases**

Bar graph showing sentence types for male offenders for cases of recklessly causing serious injury — **Figure 11B**: Sentencing outcomes for males for cases of recklessly causing serious injury
**Number: 161 cases**

Bar graph showing sentence types for female offenders for cases of recklessly causing serious injury — **Figure 11C**: Sentencing outcomes for females for cases of recklessly causing serious injury
**Number: 16 cases**

Bar graph showing sentence types for offenders aged under 25 for cases of recklessly causing serious injury — **Figure 11D**: Sentencing outcomes for people aged under 25 for cases of recklessly causing serious injury
**Number: 39 cases**

Bar graph showing sentence types for offenders aged 25 to 54 for cases of recklessly causing serious injury — **Figure 11E**: Sentencing outcomes for people aged 25 to 54 for cases of recklessly causing serious injury
**Number: 133 cases**

Bar graph showing imprisonment lengths for cases of recklessly causing serious injury — **Figure 12A**: Imprisonment lengths for cases of recklessly causing serious injury
**Number: 151 cases**, including imprisonment only (122 cases) and imprisonment combined with a community correction order (29 cases).
**Range and median**: The shortest imprisonment length is 0.11 years, the longest is 8.67 years, and the median is 3.75 years, meaning that half of the imprisonment lengths are below 3.75 years and half are above.

Bar graph showing imprisonment lengths for males for cases of recklessly causing serious injury — **Figure 12B**: Imprisonment lengths for males for cases of recklessly causing serious injury
**Number: 142 cases**
**Range and median**: The shortest imprisonment length is 0.11 years, the longest is 8.67 years, and the median is 3.79 years, meaning that half of the imprisonment lengths are below 3.79 years and half are above.

Bar graph showing imprisonment lengths for people aged under 25 for cases of recklessly causing serious injury — **Figure 12D**: Imprisonment lengths for people aged under 25 for cases of recklessly causing serious injury
**Number: 27 cases**
**Range and median**: The shortest imprisonment length is 0.58 years, the longest is 6.5 years, and the median is 3 years, meaning that half of the imprisonment lengths are below 3 years and half are above.

Bar graph showing imprisonment lengths for people aged 25 to 54 for cases of recklessly causing serious injury — **Figure 12E**: Imprisonment lengths for people aged 25 to 54 for cases of recklessly causing serious injury
**Number: 120 cases**
**Range and median**: The shortest imprisonment length is 0.11 years, the longest is 8.67 years, and the median is 4.17 years, meaning that half of the imprisonment lengths are below 4.17 years and half are above.

Bar graph showing imprisonment lengths without a community correction order for cases of recklessly causing serious injury — **Figure 12G**: Imprisonment lengths without a community correction order (CCO) for cases of recklessly causing serious injury
**Number: 122 cases**
**Range and median**: The shortest imprisonment length is 0.37 years, the longest is 8.67 years, and the median is 4.5 years, meaning that half of the imprisonment lengths are below 4.5 years and half are above.

Bar graph showing lengths of non-parole periods for cases of recklessly causing serious injury — **Figure 13**: Non-parole periods for cases of recklessly causing serious injury
**Number: 120 cases**
**Note**: Imprisonment terms do not include a community correction order.

Bar graph showing community correction order lengths for cases of recklessly causing serious injury — **Figures 14 and 14B**: Imprisonment lengths and community correction order lengths in combined orders for cases of recklessly causing serious injury
**Number: 29 cases**
**Ranges and medians**: The shortest imprisonment length is 0.11 years, the longest is 2.83 years, and the median is 1 year, meaning that half of the imprisonment lengths are below 1 year and half are above. The shortest community correction order length is 1 year, the longest is 3 years, and the median is 2 years, meaning that half of the community correction order lengths are below 2 years and half are above

Bar graph showing lengths of community correction orders for cases of recklessly causing serious injury — **Figure 16**: Community correction order lengths for cases of recklessly causing serious injury
**Number: 18 cases**
**Range and median**: The shortest community correction order length is 1 year, the longest is 3 years, and the median is 3 years, meaning that half of the community correction order lengths are below 3 years and half are above.

Stacked bar graph showing sentences imposed each year for cases of recklessly causing serious injury — **Figure 18**: Sentencing outcomes for all cases of recklessly causing serious injury by financial year
**Number: 177 cases**

Bar graph showing the number of cases each year for cases of recklessly causing serious injury — **Figure 19**: Number of cases of recklessly causing serious injury for all people by financial year
**Number: 177 cases**

Bar graph showing the average imprisonment length each year for cases of recklessly causing serious injury — **Figure 20A**: Average imprisonment lengths for cases of recklessly causing serious injury by financial year
**Number: 151 cases**

Bar graph showing the average imprisonment length each year (excluding combined orders) for cases of recklessly causing serious injury — **Figure 20B**: Average imprisonment lengths (excluding combined orders) for cases of recklessly causing serious injury by financial year
**Number: 122 cases**

Bar graph showing the average imprisonment length and average non-parole period for each year for cases of recklessly causing serious injury — **Figure 20C**: Average imprisonment lengths and non-parole periods (NPPs) for cases of recklessly causing serious injury by financial year
**Number: 114 cases**
**Note**: *NPP Cases* in the graph indicates that only cases with a non-parole period are included.

Bar graph showing the average imprisonment length combined with a community correction order each year for cases of recklessly causing serious injury — **Figure 20D**: Average imprisonment lengths combined with a community correction order (CCO) for cases of recklessly causing serious injury by financial year
**Number: 29 cases**

Bar graph showing lengths of community correction orders with and without imprisonment for cases of recklessly causing serious injury — **Figure 21**: Average community correction order (CCO) lengths for cases of recklessly causing serious injury by financial year
**Number: 18 cases**

Bar graph showing age groups of offenders for cases of recklessly causing serious injury — **Figure 22A**: Ages of offenders (where age is known) for cases of recklessly causing serious injury
**Number: 177 cases**

Bar graph showing gender of offenders for cases of recklessly causing serious injury — **Figure 22B**: Gender of offenders (where gender is known) for cases of recklessly causing serious injury
**Number: 177 cases**

Bar graph showing the number of charges in cases of recklessly causing serious injury — **Figure 22C**: Number of charges per case (of any sentenced offence) for cases of recklessly causing serious injury
**Number: 177 cases**