Quality Declaration
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VICTIMS OF FAMILY AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE RELATED OFFENCES This chapter presents data about victims of selected Family and Domestic Violence (FDV)-related offences. The scope of this data has been limited to the personal offences of Homicide and related offences (including Murder, Attempted murder and Manslaughter), Assault, Sexual assault and Kidnapping/abduction. Victims of these selected offences have been determined to be FDV-related where the relationship of offender to victim, as stored on police recording systems, falls within a specified family or domestic relationship, or where an FDV flag has been recorded, following a police investigation. For the purposes of this release, this includes Partner, Ex-partner, Parent or ‘Other family member’ (see the Explanatory Notes for details). The use of the FDV flag varies across jurisdictions based on relevant state and territory legislation. Police policy can also vary, from professional judgement through to the use of screening tools as part of risk assessment frameworks. As a result, caution should be exercised when interpreting these results, or making comparisons across the states and territories. In particular, care should be taken to ensure the differences resulting from these variations across the states and territories are considered. For further information see the Explanatory Notes. HOMICIDE AND RELATED OFFENCES In 2017, there were 126 victims recorded of FDV-related Homicide and related offences. The majority (83%) of FDV-related Homicides occurred at a residential location (105 victims). Almost two-thirds (65%) involved the use of a weapon (82 victims), most commonly a knife (40 victims). Persons aged 45 years and over accounted for the highest proportion (49%) of victims of FDV-related Homicide in 2017 (62 victims). Females comprised over half (57%) of all FDV-related Homicide victims (72 victims), whereas males accounted for the majority (69%) of total Homicide victims recorded in Australia over the same period. (Tables 2 and 23) Murder In 2017, 37% of Murders recorded nationally were FDV-related (75 victims). Female victims of FDV-related Murder accounted for 71% of all female victims of Murder recorded during 2017 (43 victims). (Tables 2 and 22) ASSAULT Assault data are published for all states and territories except for Victoria and Queensland (see Explanatory Notes for information). At least two out of five Assaults recorded during 2017 were FDV-related, ranging from 41% in the Australian Capital Territory to 61% in Western Australia. (Table 22)  ASSAULT, Proportion of all victims of Assault(b).GIF) Footnote(s): (a) Victims of selected offences have been determined to be FDV–related where the relationship of offender to victim, as stored on police recording systems, falls within a specified family or domestic relationship, or where an FDV flag has been recorded, following a police investigation (see Explanatory Notes). (b) Available for selected states and territories only. Assault data not published for Victoria and Queensland (see Explanatory Notes). Source(s): Recorded Crime – Victims Between 2016 and 2017, the victimisation rate for FDV-related Assault decreased in:
In contrast, the victimisation rate in Tasmania and the Northern Territory increased over the same period:
Across the selected states and territories:
 ASSAULT(b), Victimisation rate(c) by sex, Selected states and territories.GIF) Footnote(s): (a) Victims of selected offences have been determined to be FDV–related where the relationship of offender to victim, as stored on police recording systems, falls within a specified family or domestic relationship, or where an FDV flag has been recorded, following a police investigation (see Explanatory Notes). (b) Assault data not published for Victoria and Queensland (see Explanatory Notes). (c) Rate per 100,000 persons for the state/territory and sex of interest (see Explanatory Notes). (d) Includes victims for whom sex was not specified. Source(s): Recorded Crime – Victims Female victims of FDV-related Assault more commonly experienced victimisation by an intimate partner in all of the selected states and territories for which Assault and Relationship of Offender to Victim data is published, ranging from 63% in New South Wales to 87% in Tasmania. The number of females who experienced FDV-related Assault within an intimate partner relationship was greater than the number of males across each of the selected states and territories, ranging from three times the number of males in the Australian Capital Territory to six times the number of males in the Northern Territory.  ASSAULT(b), Ratio of females to males by ROV(c), 2017.GIF) Footnote(s): (a) Victims of selected offences have been determined to be FDV–related where the relationship of offender to victim, as stored on police recording systems, falls within a specified family or domestic relationship, or where an FDV flag has been recorded, following a police investigation (see Explanatory Notes). (b) Assault data not published for Victoria and Queensland (see Explanatory Notes). (c) Selected relationship of offender to victim. There are differences in the way that relationship of offender to victim is recorded across the states and territories (see Explanatory Notes). (d) Includes partner, de-facto, spouse, husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, ex-partner, separated partner, ex-spouse, ex-boyfriend and ex-girlfriend. Northern Territory data may be understated (see Explanatory Notes). (e) Includes parent, child, sibling, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece, grandparents and other family members n.f.d. Source(s): Recorded Crime – Victims Male victims of FDV-related Assault experienced victimisation most commonly by:
In New South Wales, South Australia and the Northern Territory (the only jurisdictions for which both Indigenous status and Assault data are published), Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander victims of FDV-related Assault comprised between 64% and 74% of the total number of Assault victims in this population group. (Tables 16 and 27) SEXUAL ASSAULT There were 8,409 victims of FDV-related Sexual assault recorded by police in 2017, which accounted for a third (34%) of all victims of Sexual assault recorded nationally over the same period. From the previous year, there was an increase of 3% in the number of victims of FDV-related Sexual assault (212 victims). The victimisation rate remained stable at 34 victims per 100,000 persons over the same period. Between 2016 and 2017, there were increases in FDV-related sexual assaults across most of the states and territories:
Decreases were recorded in Western Australia (down 24% or 143 victims), Tasmania (down 21% or 20 victims) and the Australian Capital Territory (down 25% or 22 victims). Across the states and territories, the proportion of Sexual assaults that were FDV-related ranged from 24% in Western Australia to 41% in South Australia. (Table 22)  SEXUAL ASSAULT, Proportion of all victims of Sexual assault.GIF) Footnote(s): (a) Victims of selected offences have been determined to be FDV–related where the relationship of offender to victim, as stored on police recording systems, falls within a specified family or domestic relationship, or where an FDV flag has been recorded, following a police investigation (see Explanatory Notes). Source(s): Recorded Crime – Victims Across the jurisdictions the victimisation rate for FDV-related Sexual assault ranged from 14 victims per 100,000 persons in Tasmania to 55 victims per 100,000 persons in the Northern Territory. The number of female victims of FDV-related Sexual assault nationally was more than six times higher (7,229 victims) than the number of male victims (1,164 victims). (Table 22) The disparity in Sexual assault victimisation between the sexes differed by age group: ranging from two times more female victims aged between 0 and 9 years to thirteen times more female victims aged between 25 and 34 years. Males aged between 0 and 9 years comprised 38% of total male victims of FDV-related Sexual assault (436 victims), while the largest proportion of female victims (21%) were aged between 15 and 19 years (1,540 victims). For most selected states and territories (except for Western Australia for which relationship data were unavailable – see Explanatory Notes for information), the majority of Sexual assault victimisation recorded occurred within an ‘Other family member’ relationship. The ‘Other family member’ category includes, but is not limited to: parents, children, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins. In the Australian Capital Territory, a higher proportion of Sexual assault victimisation was experienced within an intimate partner relationship. A higher proportion of females experienced victimisation within an intimate partner relationship than males. The proportion of females who experienced FDV-related Sexual assault by an intimate partner ranged from 25% in Queensland to 69% in the Australian Capital Territory. In 2017, the majority (89%) of FDV-related Sexual assaults occurred at a residential location (7,454 victims). (Table 25) KIDNAPPING/ABDUCTION There were 156 victims of FDV-related Kidnapping/abduction recorded nationally in 2017, which represented an increase of 10% (or 14 victims) from the previous year. Females comprised 80% of all victims of FDV-related Kidnapping/abduction recorded (125 victims). The majority of FDV-related Kidnapping/abduction was recorded in New South Wales (51%), Victoria (25%) and South Australia (17%). (Table 26) Document Selection These documents will be presented in a new window.
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