PERSONAL CRIME SUMMARY

VICTIMISATION

It is estimated that in the 12 months prior to interview in 2011–12, of the 18.1 million people aged 15 years and over in Australia:

• 539,800 (3.0%) were victims of at least one physical assault, collectively experiencing 2.2 million incidents.
• 667,700 (3.7%) were victims of at least one threatened assault, including face-to-face and non face-to-face threatened assaults, collectively experiencing 4.4 million incidents.
• 66,400 (0.4%) were victims of at least one robbery, collectively experiencing 188,600 incidents.
• 51,200 (0.3%) were victims of at least one sexual assault (people aged 18 years and over only).

2011-12 Personal Crime Victimisation Rates, Australia

Footnotes
(a) Sexual assault was collected for persons aged 18 years and over only.

Of the selected personal crimes, Australians were more likely to be victims of physical assault (3.0%) or threatened assault (3.7%) than robbery (0.4%) or sexual assault (0.3%).

EXPERIENCE OF MULTIPLE VICTIMISATION

Victims were least likely to experience multiple incidents of robbery within the survey reference period, and most likely to have experienced multiple incidents of non face-to-face threatened assault than the other selected personal crime types (excluding sexual assault, where number of incidents was not collected). Three quarters (75%) of victims of robbery experienced only one incident of robbery in the 12 months prior to interview. Less than half of victims of physical assault (45%) and face-to-face threatened assault (43%) experienced only one incident of that type of crime. Approximately a quarter of victims of non face-to-face threatened assault (27%) experienced only one incident of that crime type.

Victims of non face-to-face threatened assault were more likely to experience a greater number of incidents than the other selected types of personal crime. More than half (53%) of victims of non face-to-face threatened assault experienced three or more incidents in the 12 months prior to interview. Around a third of victims of physical assault (33%) and face-to-face threatened assault (35%) experienced three or more incidents of the crime.

2011-12 Number of Incidents of Personal Crime Experienced, Australia

Footnotes
* Estimates for two incidents and three or more incidents for robbery have a relative standard error between 25% and 50% and should be used with caution.
REPORTING TO POLICE

The proportion of victims who had the most recent crime incident they experienced reported to the police varied depending on the type of crime:

• 49% for physical assault.
• 38% for face-to-face threatened assault.
• 29% for non face-to-face threatened assault.
• 52% for robbery.
• 31% for sexual assault.

2011-12 Rate of Reporting of Personal Crimes to Police, Australia

Footnotes
(a) Sexual assault was collected for persons aged 18 years and over only.

Of the selected personal crimes included in the survey, victims of non face-to-face threatened assault were less likely to reported the most recent incident experienced to police (29%) than face-to-face threatened assault (38%), physical assault (49%) and robbery (52%).

Victims were less likely to report the most recent experience of sexual assault to police (30%), than they were to report the most recent incident of physical assault (49%) or robbery (52%).

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