Break-ins increase after record low
Break-ins have increased for the first time in over a decade, with 2.0 per cent of households (194,100) experiencing a break-in over the last 12 months, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Will Milne, ABS head of crime and justice statistics, said: “This was up from the lowest recorded rate of 1.7 per cent (171,600) in 2020-21, which coincided with sustained periods of lockdowns and COVID-19 restrictions across Australia.
“Property was stolen in around two-thirds of break-ins (65 per cent), with personal items like handbags, jewellery or clothing most often taken.”
Despite the recent increase in break-ins, the data found that the victimisation rate of 2.0 per cent remains lower than both pre-pandemic levels (2.4 per cent in 2018-19) and from when data was first collected in 2008-09 (3.3 per cent).
The report also found that the prevalence of all other household and personal crimes collected in the survey remained stable between 2020-21 and 2021-22.
The Crime Victimisation Survey provides information about experiences of a selected range of personal and household crimes, including the sociodemographic characteristics of people experiencing the offences, whether the most recent incident was reported to police and other characteristics of the most recent incident.
Further information can be found in Crime Victimisation, Australia, 2021-22.
Grab 1.
The Crime Victimisation Survey showed us that 2% of households experienced a break-in during 2021-22. So, we’re talking about 195,000 households across the country.
Grab 2.
Looking back, during the height of the COVID restriction we noticed break-ins had actually dropped to 1.7% of households, which was their lowest level since we started collecting these statistics. Since then, we have seen a slight increase in the rate of break-ins, but it’s still below the pre-pandemic levels.
Grab 3.
The results showed us that property was stolen at about two-thirds of all break-ins, and we found that personal items, such as handbags, jewellery and clothing were most often taken.
Media notes
- A break-in is defined as an act of unauthorised forced entry into a home or other private residence. See glossary for more information.
- Household crimes include break-in, attempted break-in, motor vehicle theft, theft from a motor vehicle, malicious property damage and other theft.
- Personal crimes include physical assault, threatened assault (face-to-face and non face-to-face), robbery and sexual assault.
- When reporting ABS data you must attribute the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or the ABS) as the source.
- For media requests and interviews, contact the ABS Media Team via media@abs.gov.au (8.30am-5pm Mon-Fri).
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