CRIME VICTIMISATION SURVEY

DASHBOARD METADATA

Collection Type Survey

Geographic Coverage National State/Territory (all)

Frequency Annual

Data Availability Detailed publication / report publicly available Data cubes / spreadsheets publicly available Customised data - charged consultancy

CONTACT DETAILS

Data custodian: Australian Bureau of Statistics
Telephone: 1300 135 070
Email: client.services@abs.gov.au
Web Address: https://www.abs.gov.au

DESCRIPTION

The Crime Victimisation Survey (CVS) collects information about people’s experiences of a selected range of personal and household crimes in the 12 months prior to interview. The survey also collects socio-demographic information about the respondent and selected characteristics of the most recent incident they experienced, including whether the incident was reported to police.

Whilst the CVS does not ask respondents specifically about experiences of family and domestic violence, it does collect information about the relationship to the perpetrator of the most recent incident of physical assault and threatened assault, including intimate partners and family members.

COLLECTION HISTORY

Collection commenced: 2008-09
Breaks in series: None
Other details: The Crime Victimisation Survey series replaced the previous Crime and Safety Surveys (1990 – 2005) and was introduced because of a change to the collection methodology. The new method of collection mainly uses personal telephone interviews of selected respondents. Data collections between 1990 and 2005 required respondents to complete questionnaires by themselves and mail these back to the ABS. This difference in mode of collection and changes to survey content means that data collected using the Crime Victimisation Survey are generally not directly comparable with data from Crime and Safety Surveys prior to 2008-09.

COLLECTION METHODOLOGY

Information is collected from selected respondents using Computer Assisted Interviewing (CAI), whereby responses are recorded directly onto an electronic questionnaire in a notebook computer, with the majority of interviews conducted over the telephone and a small number face-to-face.

SCOPE AND COVERAGE

The scope of the Crime Victimisation Survey is restricted to people aged 15 years and over and excludes the following:

• members of the Australian permanent defence forces;
• certain diplomatic personnel of overseas governments, usually excluded from census and estimated resident population counts;
• overseas residents in Australia;
• members of non-Australian defence forces (and their dependants);
• people living in households in the Indigenous Community Strata (ICS); and
• people living in non-private dwellings (e.g. hotels, university residences, students at boarding schools, patients in hospitals, inmates of prisons and residents of other institutions such as retirement homes and homes for persons with disabilities).

DEFINITION OF FAMILY AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Assault - Includes both physical assault and threatened assault.

• Physical assault - an act of physical force or violence committed by an offender/s against another person. Examples of physical force or violence include being beaten, pushed, grabbed, shoved, slapped, hit with an open hand or fist, kicked, bitten, choked, stabbed, shot, burnt, being hit with something such as a bat or being dragged or hit deliberately by a vehicle. Includes assault that occurred while the person was at work. Excludes incidents that occurred during the course of play on a sporting field or organised sport, verbal abuse, incidents where the person did not encounter the offender face-to-face, and incidents of sexual assault or threatened sexual assault which also involved physical assault.
• Threatened assault - a verbal, written and/or physical threat to inflict physical harm where the person being threatened believed the threat was likely and able to be carried out. Threatened assault may occur face-to-face or via non face-to-face methods (such as SMS, email or over the phone). Includes any threat or attempt to strike the person which could cause pain; situations where a gun or other weapon was left in an obvious place (including fake or toy guns/weapons where the threatened person thought it was real) or if the person knew the perpetrator had access to a gun (including toy guns, starter pistol, etc.). Also includes incidents where the person was threatened in their line of work. Excludes any incident of name calling or swearing which did not involve a physical threat, and threats that resulted in an actual assault.

Intimate partner - includes current partner, previous partner, boyfriends/girlfriends/ex-boyfriends/ex-girlfriends and dates.

Family member - includes parent, child, sibling or other family member.

DEFINITION OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE

Sexual assault - An act of a sexual nature carried out against a person's will or without their consent, through the use of physical force, intimidation or coercion and/or involving physical contact. Includes any actual or attempted forced sexual activity such as rape, attempted rape or indecent assault (e.g. being touched inside clothing or intentional rubbing of genitals against the person) and assault with the intent to sexually assault. Includes incidents that occurred at the person's place of work. Excludes sexual harassment that did not involve or lead to an actual sexual assault. Only persons aged 18 years and over were asked questions about sexual assault.

DATA AVAILABILITY AND DISSEMINATION

The main publication and accompanying data tables can be downloaded free of charge from the ABS website.

Other data from the survey may be available from the ABS on request. Subject to confidentiality and data quality constraints, special tabulations can be produced incorporating data items, populations and geographic areas selected to meet individual requirements. These are available on a fee-for-service basis. Contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or client.services@abs.gov.au for further information.

PUBLICATIONS

Crime Victimisation, Australia (cat. no. 4530.0)

HOW THE STATISTICAL COLLECTION INFORMS NATIONAL DATA INITIATIVES

This section provides an overview of if/how the statistical collection informs or aligns with key initiatives relating to family, domestic, and sexual violence statistics. These assessments are not an ABS endorsement or indication of data quality, but are intended to assist readers in determining whether the data will meet their data needs.

Relationship to 'Defining the Data Challenge for Family, Domestic, and Sexual Violence'

The summary table below is designed to indicate whether the data source informs the six statistical elements outlined in Defining the Data Challenge for Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence, 2013 (cat. no. 4529.0).

FDV - Family and domestic violence data
SV - Sexual violence data

STATISTICAL ELEMENTS	DATA AVAILABILITY
Context	FDV & SV
Environmental factors	FDV & SV
Psycho-social factors	FDV & SV
Risk	FDV & SV
Community prevalence	FDV & SV
Community incidence
Incident/Experience	FDV
Characteristics of incident	FDV
Responses	FDV & SV
Formal responses	FDV & SV
Informal responses
Impacts/Outcomes
Programs, Research, and Evaluation

Relationship to the 'Foundation for a National Data Collection and Reporting Framework for Family, Domestic, and Sexual Violence'

The three tables below provide an indication of which data items can be informed by the data source. The data items have been conceptually grouped into the key information units - Person, Event, and Transaction - as described in the Foundation for a National Data Collection and Reporting Framework for Family, Domestic, and, Sexual Violence, 2014 (cat. no. 4529.0.00.003).

PERSON

FDV - Family and domestic violence data
SV - Sexual violence data

DATA ITEMS	DATA AVAILABILITY
	Victim/Respondent	Perpetrator
Socio-demographic	FDV & SV	FDV
Sex	FDV & SV	FDV
Age	FDV & SV
Indigenous status
Cultural and linguistic diversity	FDV & SV
Marital status	FDV & SV
Disability status
Employment status	FDV & SV
Educational attainment	FDV & SV
Socioeconomic status	FDV & SV
Mental health
Other	FDV & SV family composition; geography	FDV offender type; whether offender living with victim; whether offender under the influence of alcohol or another substance

EVENT

FDV - Family and domestic violence data
SV - Sexual violence data

DATA ITEMS	DATA AVAILABILITY
Location	FDV
Home/residential location	FDV
Workplace/place of study	FDV
Public transport	FDV
At a place of entertainment or recreation	FDV
Other public place	FDV
Other	FDV car; in the street or other open land; shopping centre; other
Relationship	FDV
Current partner/spouse	FDV
Previous partner/spouse	FDV
Boyfriend/girlfriend/date	FDV
Parent
Child
Sibling
Other relative/family member	FDV
Other known person
Stranger
Other
Other characteristics
Weapon use	FDV
Alcohol/other substance involved	FDV
Physical injuries sustained	FDV
Hospitalisation	FDV
Other

TRANSACTION

FDV - Family and domestic violence data
SV - Sexual violence data

DATA ITEMS	DATA AVAILABILITY
Detection and prosecution	FDV & SV
Police	FDV & SV whether most recent incident reported to police
Courts
Corrections
Other	FDV main reason most recent incident not reported to police
Formal support
Police
Doctor/other health professional
Counsellor/social worker/mental health professional
Legal/financial service
Refuge/shelter/resource centre
Government housing/community services
Other
Informal support
Friend/family member
Pastoral care
Helpline
Other