Recorded Crime - Victims, Australia

This publication presents statistics about victims of selected offences that were recorded by police between January 1 and December 31 2018. This is the ninth annual release of the current time series which covers the 2010 to 2018 reference periods.

The number of victims of Unlawful entry with intent recorded by police decreased by 5% across Australia, from 176,286 victims in 2017 to 168,031 victims in 2018. This was the lowest number recorded since the beginning of the time series in 2010. (Table 1)

Five out of the eight states and territories recorded a decrease since 2017:

• Victoria down 5,815 victims (or 13%) to 38,598 victims
• Western Australia down 3,114 victims (or 9%) to 30,788 victims
• New South Wales down 1,539 victims (or 4%) to 36,684 victims
• Australian Capital Territory down 407 victims (or 16%) to 2,191 victims
• Tasmania down 319 victims (or 10%) to 2,995 victims (Table 6)

The remaining states and territories recorded increases: Queensland (up 1,575 victims or 4% to 38,833 victims); the Northern Territory (up 704 victims or 17% to 4,981 victims); and South Australia (up 661 victims or 5% to 12,960 victims). (Table 6)

For victims of Unlawful entry with intent in 2018:

• Most (65%) had their property stolen as a result of the offence (109,728 victims)
• The majority occurred at a residential location (72% or 120,491 victims) (Tables 1 and 3)
   

In 2018 the number of victims recorded for Sexual assault increased for the seventh consecutive year to 26,312 victims nationally. This was an increase of 2% (475 victims) from 2017. (Table 1)

For victims of Sexual assault in 2018:

• The majority were female (84% or 22,097 victims)
• Around half were aged between 10 and 19 years (45% or 11,911 victims)
• Most were assaulted at a residential location (65% or 17,006 victims)
• Almost all incidents did not involve the use of a weapon (94% or 24,631 victims) (Tables 2–4)

Since the beginning of this series in 2010, Sexual assault has increased by 40% (7,450 victims), which, after accounting for population growth, represents a 23% increase in the victimisation rate (from 86 victims to 105 victims per 100,000 persons). (Table 1)

Between 2017 and 2018 the number of victims of Robbery increased across Australia:

• Armed robbery up 3% or 157 victims to reach 4,915 victims
• Unarmed robbery up 8% or 376 victims to reach 5,207 victims (Table 1)

For these victims:

• There were more males than females (74% or 6,635 victims compared to 2,275 victims)
• Half took place at a community location (50% or 5,070), the majority of these on a street/footpath ( 75% or 3,811)
• A knife was used in over two-fifths (44% or 2,318 victims) of Armed robberies (Tables 2–4)

Tasmania recorded the highest proportion of Robberies involving a weapon in 2018 at 68% (or 68 victims), while the Northern Territory recorded the lowest (37% or 48 victims). (Table 6)

This publication presents statistics about victims of selected offences that came to the attention of, and were recorded by, police between January 1 and December 31, 2018. The data have been derived from administrative systems maintained by state and territory police agencies and compiled according to the National Crime Recording Standard.

This collection does not enumerate unique persons or organisations; the same victim may be counted more than once where they have been a victim of multiple offence types, or where victimisation has been reported on more than one occasion during the reference period. As such, users are advised to refrain from aggregating the number of victims across each offence type, as this cannot produce a ‘total number of victims’. It is only meaningful to interpret victim counts within an offence category.

The Methodology page provides detailed information about the data sources, scope, counting rules and data comparability associated with this publication.

The 2018 Recorded Crime – Victims release includes revisions to the 2017 data for New South Wales, Western Australia, Tasmania, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory. Users are advised to refer to the latest version of the publication when making comparisons across reference periods.

Victims of Crime, Australia presents national statistics about victims of a selected range of offences that came to the attention of state and territory police, including comparisons over time. Selected characteristics about the victim (including sex and age) or incident (including weapon use and location) are also presented, as well as the outcome of the police investigation at 30 days from the time of report. National data about victims of Assault and the Relationship of the offender to victim data are not available. See Methodology for details.

Victims of Crime, states and territories presents information about victims of a selected range of offences for selected jurisdictions. Statistics about the characteristics of the victim (including sex, age and relationship of offender to victim) or the incident (including weapon use and location) are also presented for selected states and territories.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Victims of Crime presents statistics relating to victims who identified as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and the Northern Territory for a selected range of offences (refer to Methodology). Statistics about the characteristics of the victim (including sex, age and relationship of offender to victim) or the incident (including weapon use and location) are also presented for selected states and territories.

Victims of Family and Domestic Violence (FDV) - related offences presents statistics about victims of selected offences where the relationship of offender to victim, as stored on police systems, falls within a specified family or domestic relationship, or where an FDV flag has been recorded, following a police investigation. National statistics are available for selected offences only.

For ease of reading, some offence category labels have been abbreviated throughout this publication. See the Methodology for more information.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) produces two key data sources that can inform the community about crime victimisation. The first of these is a measure of crimes reported to and recorded by police in a calendar year (this publication). The second is an annual household survey collecting direct reports from members of households about their experiences of crime in the 12 months prior to interview, with results published in Crime Victimisation, Australia (cat. no. 4530.0).

Neither of these sources alone can provide a complete measure of crime victimisation in the community, but together they provide a more comprehensive picture of victimisation.

More information about the ABS activities in the field of crime and justice statistics are available on the ABS website.

The number of victims of Homicide and related offences across Australia decreased from 432 victims in 2017 to 375 victims in 2018 (down 57 victims or 13%). This was the lowest number since the beginning of the current time series in 2010. (Table 1)

The following states and territories contributed the most to the decrease since 2017:

• Victoria (down 60 victims)
• South Australia (down 20 victims)
• Queensland (down 11 victims) (Table 6)

The change in Homicide was due to the decreases in:

• Attempted murder (down 54 victims or 31%)
• Manslaughter (down 15 victims or 33%) (Table 1)

Across Australia in 2018, the number of victims of Murder increased by 12 to 222 victims. (Table 1)

Murder and Attempted murder shared several characteristics:

• The majority of Murders (74%) and Attempted murders (66%) took place at a residential location
• Around two in three victims of Murder (62%) and Attempted murder (66%) were male
• The majority of both Murders (69%) and Attempted murders (76%) involved the use of a weapon (Tables 2–4)
   

The number of Sexual assault victims recorded by police increased by 2% across Australia, from 25,837 victims in 2017 to 26,312 victims in 2018. (Table 1)

Consistent with previous years, in 2018:

• The majority of Sexual assaults occurred at a residential location (65% or 17,006 victims)
• Most Sexual assault victims were female (84% or 22,097 victims)
• A quarter of all Sexual assault victims were aged between 15 and 19 years (26% or 6,783 victims) (Tables 2 and 3)

The highest rate of Sexual assault victimisation was recorded in the Northern Territory at 147 victims per 100,000 persons. The lowest was Tasmania with 34 victims per 100,000 persons in 2018. (Table 6)

The following states and territories contributed to the national increase in Sexual assault:

• New South Wales (up 394 victims or 4%)
• Western Australia (up 132 victims or 5%)
• Queensland (up 98 victims or 2%)
• South Australia (up 27 victims or 2%)
• Australian Capital Territory (up 6 victims or 2%) (Table 6)

This was the highest number of Sexual assaults recorded since the beginning of the data series in 2010, and was the seventh consecutive year the number of Sexual assault victims reported to police has increased. After accounting for population growth, the victimisation rate also increased from 86 victims of Sexual assault per 100,000 persons in 2010 to 105 victims of Sexual assault per 100,000 persons in 2018. (Table 1)

In 2018 the number of victims of Robbery recorded increased by 6% to 10,120 victims, from 9,592 victims in 2017. (Table 1)

The following states and territories contributed to the national increase:

• Queensland (up 350 victims or 19%)
• New South Wales (up 141 victims or 5%)
• Western Australia (up 98 victims or 9%)
• South Australia (up 49 victims or 11%)
• Northern Territory (up 30 victims 30%)
• Tasmania (up 12 victims or 14%) (Table 6)

In 2018 44% of Armed robberies involved a knife (2,138 victims), while a firearm was used for 13% (618 victims). (Tables 3–4)

In 2018 there were 168,031 victims of Unlawful entry with intent, which was a 5% (8,255 victims) decrease from the previous year. (Table 1)

This was the lowest number recorded since the beginning of the current time series, starting in 2010. (Table 1)

The following states and territories recorded the lowest number of Unlawful entry with intent victims since 2010:

• Victoria (38,598 victims)
• New South Wales (36,684 victims)
• Western Australia (30,788 victims)
• Tasmania (2,995 victims) (Table 6)

Unlawful entry with intent most commonly occurred at a residential location, accounting for around 70% of victims across all years since the beginning of the time series in 2010. (Table 3)

Motor vehicle theft increased nationally by 2% or 864 victims in 2018. Over half of the 53,305 Motor vehicles that were stolen in 2018 were taken from a residential location (53% or 28,084 victims). The second most commonly reported location was a street or footpath (26% or 13,552 victims). (Tables 1 and 3)

Motor vehicle theft increased for the following states and territories:

• Queensland (up 1,647 victims or 15%)
• South Australia (up 374 victims or 12%)
• Northern Territory (up 29 victims or 4%) (Table 6)

Motor vehicle theft decreased for the following states and territories:

• Western Australia (down 516 victims or 7%)
• Australian Capital Territory (down 303 victims or 22%)
• Tasmania (down 282 victims or 22%)
• New South Wales (down 87 victims or 1%) (Table 6)

The number of victims of Motor vehicle theft in Victoria remained relatively stable (up 6 victims or less than 1%) (Table 6)

The number of victims of Other theft offences (which include the unauthorised taking or use of goods and services from a person, premises or motor vehicle) increased by 3% in 2018, from 510,392 victims in 2017 to 527,434. More than a third of these thefts (37%) occurred from a retail location (196,647 victims), nearly one in three (31%) occurred from a residential location (164,028 victims). (Tables 1 and 3)

The number of victims of Other theft increased in most states and territories; the largest increased occurred in:

• Queensland (up 11,681 victims or 10%)
• Victoria (up 6,899 victims or 6%)
• South Australia (up 5,246 victims or 14%)
• New South Wales (up 707 victims or less than 1%)

This chapter presents state and territory statistics about victims of a selected range of offences that came to the attention of state and territory police during the period 1 January to 31 December 2018. Note that Assault data are not published for Victoria or Queensland (see the Methodology for further information).

This chapter presents statistics on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Victims of crime for New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and the Northern Territory. Based on an ABS assessment, Indigenous status data for other states and territories are not of sufficient quality and/or do not meet ABS standards for national reporting in 2018.

For the data presented here, there remained a small proportion of victims whose Indigenous status was "not stated/unknown". The proportion of unknown Indigenous status for offences may vary by offence type and from year to year. For this reason, caution should be exercised when interpreting movements in Indigenous status data. For further information, refer to the Methodology.

Between 2017 and 2018, the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander victims of Assault(1) increased in:

• South Australia (up 12% or 239 victims) to 2,277 victims
• New South Wales (up 4% or 171 victims) to 4,445 victims

A decrease was recorded over the same reference period in the Northern Territory (down 5% or 254 victims) to 5,132 victims . (Table 16)

In 2018 there were more female Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander victims of Assault than male victims:

• 2,764 females (62%) compared to 1,671 males in New South Wales
• 1,620 females (71%) compared to 651 males in South Australia
• 3,919 females (76%) compared to 1,222 males in the Northern Territory (Table 17)

The Northern Territory recorded the highest victimisation rates in 2018, with 10,346 female victims per 100,000 persons and 3,136 male victims per 100,000 persons. (Table 17)

Between one quarter to a third of all victims of Assault were aged between 25 and 34 years: 26% in New South Wales; 30% in South Australia; and 31% in the Northern Territory. (Table 17)

In 2018 the majority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander victims of Assault knew the offender:

• 88% in New South Wales (3,907 victims)
• 88% in South Australia (2,008 victims)
• 85% in the Northern Territory (4,355 victims) (Table 18)

For victims in New South Wales:

• Over half of all victims were assaulted by a family member (53% or 3,907 victims)
• Females accounted for the majority (73%) of victims assaulted by a family member (1,739 female victims) (Table 18)

For victims in South Australia:

• Over a third were assaulted by a partner (36% or 826 victims)
• One in ten (10%) were assaulted by a stranger (217 victims). Males accounted for just over half of all victims assaulted by a stranger (56 % or 122 male victims) (Table 18)

For victims in the Northern Territory:

• Almost half were assaulted by a partner (46% or 2,365 victims)
• Females accounted for the majority of victims assaulted by a partner (88% or 2,075 victims) (Table 18)
   

For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander victims of Assault:

• In New South Wales and South Australia most were assaulted at a residential location (64% and 62%)
• A third of victims in the Northern Territory (34%) were victimised at a residential location while half (50%) occurred at a community location (Table 17)
   

Between 2017 and 2018 the Sexual assault victimisation rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders increased in:

• South Australia by 84 victims to 286 victims per 100,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons (which represented a total of 124 victims)
• Queensland by 24 victims to 279 victims per 100,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons (which represented a total of 625 victims) (Table 16)

This rate decreased in:

• New South Wales by 55 victims to 293 victims per 100,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons (which represented a total of 702 victims)
• The Northern Territory by 48 victims to 226 victims per 100,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons (which represented a total of 174 victims) (Table 16)
   

In 2018 the number of female victims of Sexual assault was at least four times higher than male victims across each of these states and territories:

• 552 females compared to 151 males in New South Wales
• 533 females compared to 96 males in Queensland
• 107 females compared to 19 males in South Australia
• 158 females compared to 18 males in the Northern Territory (Table 20)

Over half of all victims were aged between 10 and 19 years in New South Wales and Queensland (58% each or 407 and 363 victims respectively). While in South Australia and the Northern Territory this age group accounted for around two-fifths of victims (43% in SA and 38% in the NT). (Table 19)

For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander victims of Sexual assault in 2018:

• The majority knew their offender (from 67% in the NT to 83% in SA)
• The offender was most commonly identified as a non-family member across most of these states and territories (from 41% in the NT to 46% in SA)
• In Queensland the offender was identified as a family member for around two-fifths of recorded victims (41%)
• More females were sexually assaulted by a Stranger than males across all jurisdictions where this data was published (Table 20)
   

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, where an FDV flag has been recorded by police, or falls within a specified family or domestic relationship, or (for the purposes of this release, this includes Partner, Ex-partner, Parent or ‘Other family member’) (see the Methodology for details).

For further information see the Methodology page.

In 2018 over one-third (38%) of all Homicide and related offences were FDV-related (142 FDV-related victims). (Table 22)

The majority of these were victims of Murder (66% or 93 victims), which was an increase of 14 victims from the previous year. (Table 22)

For victims of FDV-related Homicide in 2018:

• More than half (53%) were female (75 female victims and 65 male victims)
• Over two-fifths (42%) were aged 45 years and over (60 victims)
• Close to half (45%) occurred within an Intimate partner relationship (64 victims)
• Most occurred at a residential location (92% or 130 victims)
• A knife was the most common weapon type used (45% or 39 victims) (Tables 22 and 23)

Western Australia recorded the largest number of FDV-related Homicide offences (37 victims) across all jurisdictions for which data is published in 2018. (Table 23)

In 2018 at least two out of five Assaults recorded were FDV-related, ranging from 38% in the Australian Capital Territory to 61% in Western Australia(1) . (Table 22)

Between 2017 and 2018 the victimisation rate for Assault decreased in:

• Western Australia – from 725 to 684 victims per 100,000 persons
• Northern Territory – from 1,820 to 1,762 victims per 100,000 persons
• Australian Capital Territory – from 237 to 205 victims per 100,000 (Table 22)

This rate increased in:

• New South Wales – from 366 to 374 victims per 100,000 persons
• South Australia – from 413 to 420 victims per 100,000 persons
• Tasmania - from 275 to 277 victims per 100,000 persons (Table 22)
   

In 2018 there were more female victims of FDV-related Assault than male victims across all the states and territories for which Assault data is published. This ranged from 66% in New South Wales (19,675 victims) to 81% in the Northern Territory (3,542 victims). (Table 22)

This was in contrast to the total Assault population (which includes non FDV-related offences) where males accounted for a higher proportion of victims than females in some states and territories (New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory with 54%, or 35,657 and 1,257 victims, respectively). (Tables 7 and 22)

Victims of FDV-related Assault were most commonly aged between 25 and 34 years, ranging from 22% in the Australian Capital Territory to 33% in the Northern Territory. (Table 24)

For victims of FDV-related Assault in 2018:

• The majority of offences occurred at a residential location ranging from 42% in the Northern Territory to 86% in New South Wales
• The proportion of weapon used during the offence ranged from 4% in New South Wales to 42% in the Northern Territory (Table 24)

Relationship of offender to victim types:

• Female victims of Assault were more commonly offended against 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 64% in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory to 86% in Tasmania
• Males were most commonly offended against by an intimate partner in Tasmania (76%), Northern Territory (52%) and South Australia (49%) and most commonly by an Other family member(2) in the Australian Capital Territory (48%) and New South Wales (47%) (Table 24)
   

There were 8,830 victims of FDV-related Sexual assault in 2018, which accounted for a third (34%) of all victims of Sexual assaults recorded nationally. (Table 22)

This was the highest number of victims of FDV-related Sexual assault recorded for the FDV since the beginning of the data series in 2014. (Table 22)

In 2018 females were sexually assaulted at a rate six times higher than males, with 61 female victims per 100,000 females and 9 male victims per 100,000 males. This rate has been consistent since the beginning of this data series in 2014. (Table 22)

The majority of female victims were aged under 19 years (54% or 4,140 victims). For males this proportion was higher at 72% (or 826 victims). (Table 25)

For victims of FDV-related Sexual assault in 2018:

• The majority of offences occurred at a residential location (89% or 7,837 victims)
• Almost all offenders did not use a weapon (94% or 8,302 victims) (Table 25)

Relationship of offender to victim types:

• Most experienced victimisation within an ‘Other family member’(3) relationship
• More females experienced victimisation within an intimate partner relationship than males ranging from 26% in Queensland to 53% in the Australian Capital Territory (Table 25)
   

Between 2017 and 2018 the number of victims of FDV-related Kidnapping/abduction recorded nationally decreased by 8% (or 13 victims) to 143 victims. (Table 22)

For five consecutive years females have made up over 68% of all recorded FDV-related Kidnapping/abduction victims, and accounted for 83% (or 119 female victims) in 2018. (Table 22)

Close to half (48%) of all these victims were aged between 20 and 34 years (68 victims). The majority of Kidnaping/abductions took place at a residential location (74% or 106 victims) in 2018. (Table 26)

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