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Offence coding

This webpage gives an overview of offence coding as part of the New Zealand Crime and Safety Survey (NZCASS).

What is offence coding and why do we do it?

The NZCASS does not ask survey respondents directly about crimes that happened to them, such as ‘Have you been burgled?’ This is because people don’t always know what is legally considered a crime and what isn’t. Legal experts code information collected about an incident (‘offence coding’) to decide whether or not the incident was a crime and what type of crime.

How are offences coded?

The legal experts decide on offence codes using the answers from the victim forms, which include a short description in the respondent’s own words (except for sexual offences). The experts also use answers to other questions throughout the questionnaire.

One NZCASS research objective is to compare the level of reported crime with Police statistics. As such, it’s important that offence coding for NZCASS mirrors the way Police record offences as closely as possible. An exact match with Police recording practice is unlikely given that:

  • different police officers may make different judgments when deciding:
    • whether to record an incident as an offence
    • which category it should be placed in
  • Police continuously review and refine recording rules, which means some changes to practice have occurred between surveys.

As a general principle, offences in the NZCASS are coded in line with:

  • current legal theory
  • current Police recording procedures.

In most cases, these two requirements will be met and there will be no conflict (this means Police recording practice will be in line with the legal theory and definitions).

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What offences are collected and coded in the NZCASS?

Offence
Code
Not counted
Sexual violation of women
01
  
Sexual violation of men
02
  
Incest
03
•
Indecent assault
04
  
Indecent exposure
05
•
Grievous assaults
06
  
Other assaults
07
  
Abduction/kidnapping
08
  
Robbery
09
  
Theft from person
10
  
Burglary (old definition)
11
  
Burglary (new definition)
41
  
Theft from inside home (right to be there)
12
  
Theft from outside the home (over $10)
13
  
Taking/conversion motor vehicle
14
  
Unlawful interference/getting into motor vehicle
15
  
Theft from motor vehicles
16
  
Taking/conversion/unlawful interference with bicycle
17
  
General theft of personal property
18
  
Arson
19
  
Wilful damage to household property
27
  
Wilful damage to personal property
28
  
Threatening to kill/assault/threatening behaviour
21
  
Threatening to damage property
29
  
Extortion/blackmail
22
•
Unlawfully in building (no clear intention to commit offence)
23
•
Peeping Toms, lurking etc
24
•
Fraud
25
•
Damage to motor vehicles
26
  
In scope, but not able to tell which offence
85
•
Not an offence
86
•
Offence not in scope
87
•

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