1370.0 - Measures of Australia's Progress, 2010  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 15/09/2010   
   Page tools: Print Print Page

Crime

Victims of assault(a)(b) - 2008-09
Graph Image for Victims of assault(a)(b) - 2008-09

Footnote(s): (a) Persons aged 15 years and over. (b) Reported as occurring in the 12 months prior to interview. See endnote 1. (c) Includes both face-to-face and non face-to-face incidents.

Source(s): ABS Crime Victimisation, Australia, 2008-09 (cat. no. 4530.0)

Victims of assault by age(a) - 2008-09
Graph Image for Victims of assault by age(a) - 2008-09

Footnote(s): (a) Reported as occurring in the 12 months prior to interview. (b) Includes both face-to-face and non face-to-face incidents. (c) Includes physical assault, face-to-face threatened assault and non face-to-face threatened assault. See endnote 1.

Source(s): ABS Crime Victimisation, Australia, 2008-09 (cat. no. 4530.0); Data available on request, ABS Crime Victimisation Survey.

PERSONAL CRIMES - ASSAULT

Crimes committed against individuals impact both directly and indirectly on the wellbeing of the victim, as well as the people around them.

In 2008-09, 6.3% (or 1.1 million) of all Australians aged 15 years and over reported that they had been the victim of at least one assault in the 12 months prior to interview. Of these victims, 59% were men.

For the purpose of this page, the term assaults will refer to victims of physical assault or threatened assaults. Sexual assaults are examined separately in the 'Sexual assault' page. In the 12 months prior to interview, more people reported being a victim of a threatened assault (4.2%) than a physical assault (3.1%) (Endnote 1).

Men were more likely to be victims of both physical and threatened assault than women. In the twelve months prior to interview, 3.9% of men were the victims of at least one physical assault, compared with 2.4% of women. For threatened assault, 5.0% of men and 3.5% of women were victims.

Young people were also more likely to be victims of assault. Of people aged 15-19 years, 13.2% were victims of at least one assault, 8.7% were victims of physical assault and 7.9% were victims of threatened assault (Endnote 1). The likelihood of being a victim of assault decreased steadily with age. Of people aged 65 years and over, 1.3% were victims of least one assault, with 0.4% victims of physical assault and 0.9% victims of threatened assault.

ENDNOTES

  1. Some people were the victims of both physical and threatened assault during the 12 months prior to interview, making it possible for victims to be counted in both assault categories. Thus, the sum of the two sets of victims, and their victimisation rates, are greater than the total number of victims of assault.

RELATED PAGES

  • Crime glossary
  • Crime references
  •  

    Previous Page | Next Page