Oman's Public Prosecutor reports 9 per cent drop in crime in 2015

Muscat: Criminal, misdemeanour and other illegal acts decreased in 2015, according to statistics from the Directorate General of Public Prosecution in Muscat.
According to the data provided, the public prosecutor received 41,072 complaints in 2015, compared with 45,306 in 2014, reflecting a 9.3 per cent drop.
While the number of cases reduced overall, the Directorate of Public Prosecution in North Al Batinah received the largest number of cases at 8,992, which made up for 22 per cent of the total cases in terms of directorates.
Muscat followed with 8,433 cases, accounting for 20.5 per cent of the total.
With regards to the Department of Public Prosecution, Sohar received the most number of cases at 2,956, followed by Salalah with 2,527.
Criminal cases accounted for 8 per cent of the total crimes committed in 2015, compared with 9.3 per cent in 2014, where the number stood at 3,260; which reflected a 22.5 per cent decrease from 4,205 in 2014.
Misdemeanour cases constituted the majority of cases received by the public prosecution, which recorded an 8 per cent drop to 37,332 cases, down from 40,564 in 2014. These cases made up for 91 per cent of the total cases received by the public prosecution.
The court also received appeals, which surged by 20.5 per cent in 2015 to 5,796, up from 4,811 in 2014. Administrative complaints and contraventions and other acts resulted in four, 119 and 357 cases received by the public prosecution.
Number of accused
There hasn’t been much of a difference in the number of accused persons. 45,246 people were accused of crimes, which reflect a 1 per cent increase from 45,109 in 2014.
The number of juvenile criminals also increased slightly, but accounted for less than 3 per cent of the total accused in 2015, with 1,192 juveniles being registered 92 per cent men
About 92 per cent, or 41,803, of those accused of committing crimes were men, up by 340 from 2014. Expats made up 40 per cent (18,131) of those accused in 2014, while in 2015 they accounted for 41 per cent or 18,514.
The most common crimes committed and cases handed over to the public prosecution were of theft at 6,780 cases, bounced checks with 4,685, drug charges with 3,062, followed by violation of the consumer protection law and insulting dignity with 2,839 and 2,372 cases filed, respectively.