Cyprus serious offences down

Serious offences fell in 2007, according to the latest available figures from the Statistical Service, which published the Annual Report “Criminal statistics”, on Tuesday.
The report presents data on crime, based on information provided by the police, the courts and the prison. It also presents comparative data for the period 1976-2007.
According to the report, the number of serious offences reported to the police (true cases) in 2007 was 7,556 compared to 7,917 in 2006.
Offences against property constituted the largest group of offences, accounting for 61.4% of serious offences, followed by offences relating to forgery, coining and criminal impersonation with 12.5%.
The number of cases concerning drug offences increased by 34.2% compared to the previous year. The number of cases recorded in 2007 was 876 compared to 653 in 2006.
The number of adult offenders convicted of serious offences was 1,903, compared to 1,441 the year before.
Their median age was 28.0 years for males and 30.0 for females. Women represented only 9.4% of adult convicted offenders, while the convictions of foreigners constituted 41.3% of the total convictions for serious offences (40.3% of males and 51.1% of females).
The number of juvenile offenders who were involved in the commission of both serious and minor offences reached 257 in 2007 (of which 15 were girls) compared to 231 in 2006.
According to the judicial statistics, 107,269 persons appeared before the courts in 2007, compared to 107,997 in 2006. Of these, 66,962 were convicted, compared to 68,427 the year before.
Regarding prison statistics, there were 1,281 admissions of convicted persons (1,185 males and 96 females) in 2007, compared to 1,336 in 2006.
In addition to the convicted prisoners, 1,107 accused persons (pending trial) were admitted into prison.