4500.0 - Crime and Justice News, Oct 1999  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 29/11/1999   
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FAMILY VIOLENCE: FINDINGS FROM THE CRIME AND SAFETY SURVEY

The Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology held its 14th annual Conference in Perth on 27-30 September. Eng Chee of the NCCJS presented a paper on Family Violence based on findings from the 1998 Crime and Safety Survey. This is the first national crime and safety survey which collected information about the relationship of offender to victim for assault and sexual assault offences. The presentation focused on assault victims who had experienced some kind of family violence in the 12 months prior to the survey and covered both the socio demographics of victims and the characteristics of the most recent assault incident. For the purposes of the paper family violence was defined as those incidents involving partners, ex-partners, family members (eg sibling, parents) and other relatives irrespective of where such incidents took place. Statistics on assault incidents include type of assault, whether the victim was injured, if a weapon was used, whether reported to police and whether the incident was discussed with others.

Assault was defined as an incident other than a robbery involving the use, attempted use, or threat, of force or violence against the victims. In the 12 months prior to the survey, it is estimated that 618,300 persons aged 15 years and over were victims of assault. This represents a victimisation prevalence rate of 4.3%.

Using the relationship to offender variable, it is estimated that there were 149,300 victims of assault that involved family violence in Australia in the 12 months prior to the survey.