This report examines Commonwealth offences sentenced in Victoria’s adult courts in the five years to 30 June 2023. It identifies the agencies that prosecuted Commonwealth offences, the demographics of federal offenders, the sentence types imposed for Commonwealth offences and the most commonly sentenced Commonwealth offences in Victoria. 

The report finds that 17,618 charges of criminal offences legislated by the Commonwealth Government were sentenced in 9,570 cases in Victoria’s adult courts during the five-year period, representing around 2% of cases in the Magistrates’ Court and 10% of cases in the higher courts in Victoria. The most common offence sentenced was using a carriage service to menace, harass or offend, accounting for nearly 40% of all Commonwealth offences sentenced in Victoria in the five-year period.