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The number of victims of crimes recorded by police increased between 1999 and 2000 for almost all of the offences listed in table 11.6. The largest proportional increases were recorded for victims of driving causing death (12%), sexual assault (11%) and other theft (10%). The main falls were for murder and kidnapping/abduction (by 12% and 10% respectively). As well as increases in the number of victims, there have also been increases in victimisation rates for many of the offence types.
The annual recorded counts for murder victims in Australia have fluctuated over the period 1995 to 2000. This is due in large part to the following incidents: Tasmania in 1996 where 35 lives were taken in a single incident at Port Arthur; South Australia in 1999 where 12 bodies were discovered at Snowtown; Western Australia in 1999 where 9 victims resulted from two family murder/suicide incidents; and Queensland in 2000 where victims of the fire at Childers were recorded. Despite this fluctuation in the number of murders victims, the victimisation rates for murder in Australia have remained relatively stable over the last six years, ranging from 1.5 to 1.8 victims per 100,000 persons.
11.6 NUMBER OF VICTIMS AND VICTIMISATION RATE, By Selected Offences Recorded by Police |
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Offence category | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 |
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NUMBER |
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Homicide and related offences | 976 | 1,027 | n.a. | 995 | 970 | 989 |
Murder | 326 | 312 | 321 | 285 | 343 | 302 |
Attempted murder | 300 | 335 | 318 | 387 | 359 | 391 |
Manslaughter | 30 | 38 | 39 | 47 | 43 | 44 |
Driving causing death(a) | 320 | 342 | n.a. | 276 | 225 | 252 |
Assault | 101,710 | 114,156 | 124,500 | 130,903 | 134,271 | 141,124 |
Sexual assault | 13,099 | 14,542 | 14,353 | 14,336 | 14,104 | 15,630 |
Kidnapping/abduction | 459 | 480 | 562 | 705 | 766 | 688 |
Robbery | 14,564 | 16,372 | 21,305 | 23,801 | 22,606 | 23,314 |
Armed robbery | 5,258 | 6,256 | 9,054 | 10,850 | 9,452 | 9,474 |
Unarmed robbery | 9,306 | 10,116 | 12,251 | 12,951 | 13,154 | 13,840 |
Blackmail/extortion | 157 | 268 | 360 | 272 | 255 | 254 |
Unlawful entry with intent | 385,162 | 402,079 | 421,569 | 434,376 | 415,735 | 436,865 |
Property theft | 303,227 | 313,902 | 332,525 | 339,512 | 322,983 | (b)n.a. |
Other | 81,935 | 88,177 | 89,044 | 94,864 | 92,752 | (b)n.a. |
Motor vehicle theft(c) | 127,094 | 122,914 | 130,138 | 131,587 | 129,552 | 139,094 |
Other Theft | 490,518 | 521,762 | 530,881 | 563,482 | 612,559 | 674,813 |
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RATE PER 100,000 POPULATION |
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Homicide and related offences | 5.4 | 5.6 | n.a. | 5.3 | 5.1 | 5.2 |
Murder | 1.8 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.5 | 1.8 | 1.6 |
Attempted murder | 1.7 | 1.8 | 1.7 | 2.1 | 1.9 | 2.0 |
Manslaughter | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
Driving causing death(a) | 1.8 | 1.9 | n.a. | 1.5 | 1.2 | 1.3 |
Assault | 562.9 | 623.5 | 672.2 | 699.0 | 709.2 | 736.8 |
Sexual assault | 72.5 | 79.4 | 77.5 | 76.6 | 74.5 | 81.6 |
Kidnapping/abduction | 2.5 | 2.6 | 3.0 | 3.8 | 4.0 | 3.6 |
Robbery | 80.6 | 89.4 | 115.0 | 127.1 | 119.4 | 121.7 |
Armed robbery | 29.1 | 34.2 | 48.9 | 57.9 | 49.9 | 49.5 |
Unarmed robbery | 51.5 | 55.3 | 66.1 | 69.2 | 69.5 | 72.3 |
Blackmail/extortion | 0.9 | 1.5 | 1.9 | 1.5 | 1.3 | 1.3 |
Unlawful entry with intent | 2,131.7 | 2,196.2 | 2,276.2 | 2,319.5 | 2,195.7 | 2,280.8 |
Property theft | 1,678.2 | 1,714.6 | 1,795.4 | 1,812.9 | 1,705.8 | (b)n.a. |
Other | 453.5 | 481.6 | 480.8 | 506.6 | 489.9 | (b)n.a. |
Motor vehicle theft(c) | 703.4 | 671.4 | 702.7 | 702.7 | 684.2 | 726.2 |
Other theft | 2,714.7 | 2,850.0 | 2,866.4 | 3,008.9 | 3,235.2 | 3,523.1 |
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(a) A change in the recording practices for driving causing death offences in New South Wales resulted in incomplete counts for this offence in 1997.
(b) A change in the legislation related to unlawful entry with intent (UEWI) offences in South Australia resulted in an inability to provide UEWI disaggregated into property theft and other for 2000.
(c) Counts for motor vehicle theft prior to 1997 are not directly comparable with those for other years as Western Australia included the theft of caravans and trailers in addition to motor vehicle theft. |
Source: Recorded Crime, Australia (4510.0). |
Personal crime
Males were more likely than females to be victims of personal crime, with two exceptions: sexual assault and kidnapping/abduction (graph 11.7). The sexual assault victimisation rate for females (129 victims per 100,000) was more than four times the male victimisation rate (29 victims per 100,000). Males experienced higher recorded assault rates across all age groups.
As table 11.6 shows, assault is the most common category of offences recorded against the person; police recorded 141,124 victims of assault during 2000, representing a victimisation rate of 737 victims per 100,000 persons. There were 15,630 cases of sexual assault recorded, a rate of 82 victims per 100,000 persons, and 302 victims of murder, a rate of 1.6 victims per 100,000 persons.
Property crime
Unlawful entry with intent (UEWI) and other theft are the most frequently occurring of the more serious property offences. The UEWI victimisation rate increased 13% between 1995 and 2000 to be 2,281 victims per 100,000 persons in 2000. The victimisation rate for motor vehicle theft increased by 9% between 1995 and 2000. The rate of other theft was 3,523 victims per 100,000 persons, representing a 38% increase since 1995.
Age and sex of victims
Young people aged 15-24 years in particular, and those aged 25-34 years to a slightly lesser extent, experienced the highest levels of recorded crime victimisation. For the main offence categories (assault, sexual assault and robbery) the rates for these groups were at least twice the average for those offences (table 11.8).
11.8 VICTIMISATION RATES(a) OF SELECTED CRIMES(b), By Age and Sex - 2000 |
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Offence category | 0-14 | 15-19 | 20-24 | 25-34 | 35-44 | 45 and over | Total(d) |
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MALES |
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Murder | 0.3 | 2.2 | 2.2 | 2.7 | 2.9 | 1.8 | 1.9 |
Attempted murder | 1.0 | 2.8 | 7.0 | 5.9 | 2.9 | 1.4 | 2.8 |
Driving causing death | 0.5 | 4.1 | 3.3 | 1.9 | 1.3 | 1.1 | 1.5 |
Assault | 329.8 | 1,731.0 | 1,653.7 | 1,517.5 | 941.8 | 359.5 | 839.7 |
Sexual assault | 78.3 | 54.2 | 30.4 | 19.0 | 8.5 | 1.9 | 29.4 |
Kidnapping/abduction | 4.9 | 5.9 | 6.5 | 2.5 | 1.3 | 0.4 | 2.7 |
Robbery(c) | 48.5 | 548.3 | 310.7 | 152.8 | 92.5 | 46.4 | 128.2 |
Blackmail/extortion(c) | n.p. | 2.5 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 3.1 | 1.5 | 1.6 |
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FEMALES |
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Murder | 0.5 | 1.2 | 2.1 | 2.2 | 1.8 | 0.8 | 1.2 |
Attempted murder | 0.6 | 0.6 | 1.7 | 2.3 | 2.1 | 0.7 | 1.2 |
Driving causing death | 0.3 | 2.4 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 0.5 | 0.9 | 0.9 |
Assault | 210.4 | 1,298.0 | 1,317.0 | 1,119.6 | 707.8 | 186.4 | 579.6 |
Sexual assault | 250.7 | 430.7 | 204.1 | 121.1 | 64.1 | 13.4 | 128.9 |
Kidnapping/abduction | 8.1 | 17.8 | 7.7 | 4.5 | 1.6 | 0.4 | 4.5 |
Robbery(c) | 9.6 | 134.5 | 136.7 | 83.5 | 63.0 | 54.9 | 63.8 |
Blackmail/extortion(c) | - | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.5 |
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PERSONS |
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Murder | 0.4 | 1.7 | 2.1 | 2.5 | 2.3 | 1.3 | 1.6 |
Attempted murder | 0.8 | 1.7 | 4.4 | 4.1 | 2.5 | 1.0 | 2.0 |
Driving causing death | 0.4 | 3.3 | 2.2 | 1.6 | 0.9 | 1.0 | 1.3 |
Assault | 272.2 | 1,524.9 | 1,497.9 | 1,325.5 | 828.3 | 270.9 | 736.8 |
Sexual assault | 162.7 | 238.9 | 115.9 | 70.2 | 36.5 | 7.9 | 81.6 |
Kidnapping/abduction | 6.5 | 11.7 | 7.1 | 3.5 | 1.5 | 0.4 | 3.6 |
Robbery(c) | 29.7 | 347.7 | 227.2 | 118.8 | 78.3 | 51.1 | 97.9 |
Blackmail/extortion(c) | n.p. | 1.6 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 1.9 | 1.0 | 1.1 |
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(a) Rate per 100,000 population.
(b) As recorded by police forces in all jurisdictions.
(c) For Robbery and Blackmail/extortion where the victim can be an organisation, figures shown only include person victims.
(d) Includes victims for whom age and/or sex was not specified. |
Source: Recorded Crime, Australia, 2000 (4510.0). |
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