1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 2003  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 24/01/2003   
   Page tools: Print Print Page  
Contents >> Crime and Justice >> Crimes recorded by police

The number of victims of crimes recorded by police increased between 2000 and 2001 for almost all of the offences listed in table 11.6. The largest proportional increases were recorded for victims of blackmail/extortion (37%), attempted murder (17%) and armed robbery (17%). Falls were evident for three offences. Manslaughter showed the largest decrease (29%), with decreases also in driving causing death (6%) and murder (3%). On the basis of crime victimisation rates, between 2000 and 2001 there were increases for most offence types in the likelihood of someone becoming a victim of a crime.


11.6 VICTIMS AND VICTIMISATION RATE, By selected offences recorded by police
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
NUMBER
Homicide and related offences
1,027
n.a.
995
970
1,020
1,047
Murder
312
321
285
343
315
306
Attempted murder
335
318
387
359
393
458
Manslaughter
38
39
47
43
48
34
Driving causing death(a)
342
n.a.
276
225
264
249
Assault
114,156
124,500
130,903
134,271
138,708
151,753
Sexual assault
14,542
14,353
14,336
14,104
15,759
16,744
Kidnapping/abduction
480
562
705
766
693
758
Robbery
16,372
21,305
23,801
22,606
23,336
26,565
Armed robbery
6,256
9,054
10,850
9,452
9,483
11,056
Unarmed robbery
10,116
12,251
12,951
13,154
13,853
15,509
Blackmail/extortion
268
360
272
255
257
352
Unlawful entry with intent
402,079
421,569
434,376
415,735
429,374
435,524
Property theft
313,902
332,525
339,512
322,983
(b)n.a.
325,180
Other
88,177
89,044
94,864
92,752
(b)n.a.
110,344
Motor vehicle theft(c)
122,914
130,138
131,587
129,552
138,912
139,943
Other theft
521,762
530,881
563,482
612,559
681,268
699,262
RATE PER 100,000 POPULATION
Homicide and related offences
5.6
n.a.
5.3
5.1
5.3
5.4
Murder
1.7
1.7
1.5
1.8
1.6
1.6
Attempted murder
1.8
1.7
2.1
1.9
2.1
2.4
Manslaughter
0.2
0.2
0.3
0.2
0.3
0.2
Driving causing death(a)
1.9
n.a.
1.5
1.2
1.4
1.3
Assault
623.5
672.2
699.0
709.2
724.2
782.9
Sexual assault
79.4
77.5
76.6
74.5
82.3
86.4
Kidnapping/abduction
2.6
3.0
3.8
4.0
3.6
3.9
Robbery
89.4
115.0
127.1
119.4
121.8
137.1
Armed robbery
34.2
48.9
57.9
49.9
49.5
57.0
Unarmed robbery
55.3
66.1
69.2
69.5
72.3
80.0
Blackmail/extortion
1.5
1.9
1.5
1.3
1.3
1.8
Unlawful entry with intent
2,196.2
2,276.2
2,319.5
2,195.7
2,241.7
2,246.9
Property theft
1,714.6
1,795.4
1,812.9
1,705.8
(b)n.a.
1,677.6
Other
481.6
480.8
506.6
489.9
(b)n.a.
569.3
Motor vehicle theft(c)
671.4
702.7
702.7
684.2
725.2
722.0
Other theft
2,850.0
2,866.4
3,008.9
3,235.2
3,556.8
3,607.5
(a) A change in the recording practices for driving causing death offences in NSW resulted in incomplete counts for this offence in 1997.
(b) A change in the legislation related to unlawful entry with intent (UEWI) offences in SA 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 WA included the theft of caravans and trailers in addition to motor vehicle theft.

Source: Recorded Crime, Australia, 2001 (4510.0).


Personal crime

Based on reports to police, males were more likely than females to be victims of personal crime, with the exception of sexual assault and kidnapping/abduction (graph 11.7). The reported sexual assault victimisation rate for females (139 victims per 100,000) was more than four times the male victimisation rate (28.9 victims per 100,000).

Graph - 11.7 Victims of personal crime - 2001



As table 11.6 shows, assault is the most common category of offences recorded against the person. Police recorded 151,753 victims of assault during 2001, a 9% increase over the previous year and 33% higher than in 1996. The assault victimisation rate in 2001 was 782.9 victims per 100,000 persons, up from the 724.2 in 2000 and 623.5 per 100,000 persons in 1996. The 16,744 cases of sexual assault recorded in 2001 were 15% higher than in 1996, with the 2001 sexual assault victimisation rate of 86.4 victims per 100,000 persons 9% higher than the 1996 rate of 79.4 per 100,000 persons.

In 2001 there were 306 victims of murder, which represented a rate of 1.6 victims per 100,000 persons. The annual recorded counts for murder victims in Australia have fluctuated over the period 1996 to 2001, partly due to some specific 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 2 family murder/suicide incidents; and Queensland in 2000 where 15 victims of the fire at Childers were recorded. Despite this fluctuation in the number of murder victims, the rate has remained relatively stable over the last six years, ranging from 1.5 to 1.8 murder victims per 100,000 persons.

Property crime

Unlawful entry with intent (UEWI) and other theft are the most frequently occurring of the property offences. The UEWI victimisation rate increased by 2% between 1996 and 2001 to be 2,247 victims per 100,000 persons in 2001. The victimisation rate for motor vehicle theft increased by 8% between 1996 and 2001. The 2001 rate for other theft was 3,607 victims per 100,000 persons, representing a 27% increase since 1996.

Age and sex of victims

Young people aged 15-24 years experienced the highest levels of recorded crime victimisation (table 11.8). Males experienced higher recorded assault rates across all age groups. For the offence category of assault, the rates for 15-24 year olds were approximately twice the average for all age groups. Robbery and sexual assault rates for the 15-19 year age group were more than three times the overall average. The robbery rate for 20-24 year olds was more than twice the national average.


11.8 VICTIMISATION RATES(a) OF SELECTED CRIMES(b) - 2001
Age groups (years)
Offence category
0-14
15-19
20-24
25-34
35-44
45 and over
Total(c)
MALES
Murder
0.8
1.3
3.0
2.7
3.1
1.5
1.9
Attempted murder
1.0
3.7
9.8
7.0
4.4
1.5
3.5
Driving causing death
0.4
3.4
2.7
2.1
1.1
1.4
1.5
Assault
330.7
1,756.2
1,764.5
1,598.7
1,024.1
390.1
887.0
Sexual assault
80.8
51.9
27.5
18.9
11.1
2.1
28.9
Kidnapping/abduction
4.6
7.7
6.7
2.8
1.8
0.5
3.0
Robbery(d)
48.7
630.4
392.8
188.6
108.9
54.5
150.9
Blackmail/extortion(d)
0.2
4.7
3.1
3.3
2.6
2.2
2.4
FEMALES
Murder
0.9
1.1
1.6
1.6
1.3
1.1
1.2
Attempted murder
0.6
1.2
2.2
2.1
1.8
0.6
1.2
Driving causing death
0.2
2.1
0.7
0.7
0.5
0.9
0.8
Assault
223.9
1,353.1
1,365.5
1,203.4
768.3
209.8
618.9
Sexual assault
270.2
498.0
203.3
128.7
65.4
16.3
139.0
Kidnapping/abduction
7.1
19.6
8.7
5.7
2.3
0.4
4.8
Robbery(d)
9.0
152.2
151.0
92.5
66.5
50.0
66.4
Blackmail/extortion(d)
n.p.
0.8
1.2
1.5
1.0
0.6
0.8
PERSONS
Murder
0.9
1.2
2.3
2.2
2.2
1.3
1.6
Attempted murder
0.8
2.5
6.1
4.6
3.1
1.0
2.4
Driving causing death
0.3
2.8
1.9
1.4
0.8
1.1
1.3
Assault
279.2
1,564.8
1,579.7
1,409.5
900.8
298.2
782.9
Sexual assault
173.3
270.5
114.0
73.8
38.6
9.5
86.4
Kidnapping/abduction
5.9
13.5
7.7
4.3
2.0
0.5
3.9
Robbery(d)
29.5
399.5
277.1
141.8
88.3
52.5
111.3
Blackmail/extortion(d)
0.2
2.8
2.2
2.4
1.8
1.4
1.6
(a) Rate per 100,000 population.
(b) As recorded by police forces in all jurisdictions.
(c) Includes victims for whom age and/or sex was not specified.
(d) For Robbery and Blackmail/extortion where the victim can be an organisation, figures shown only include person victims.

Source: Recorded Crime, Australia, 2001 (4510.0).



Previous PageNext Page