RECORDED CRIME VICTIMS COLLECTION

DASHBOARD METADATA

Collection Type Administrative by-product

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

Data from the Recorded Crime Victims collection provides nationally comparable statistics about victims of selected personal and household offences that came to the attention of, and were recorded by, state/territory police across Australia during a 12 month calendar year reference period. It includes a breakdown of the selected offences by victim characteristics (age and sex); the nature of the incident (weapon use and location); and the outcome of police investigations at 30 days. Information about the relationship of the offender to the victim and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status of the victim is also presented for selected states and territories.

The Recorded Crime Victims publication also presents data about victims of selected Family and Domestic Violence (FDV)-related offences.

COLLECTION HISTORY

Collection commenced: 1993
Breaks in series: Yes. The 2010 publication marks a break in series for the Recorded Crime Victims collection. This is due to changes in police recording practices, implementation of a revised offence classification and completion of the National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS) implementation. Consequently comparisons should not be made between data published prior to and after 2011.
Other details: Family and domestic violence statistics are available from 2014 onwards.

COLLECTION METHODOLOGY

Statistics are derived from information held in administrative systems which are collected and maintained by police agencies within each state and territory. This information is collected by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and compiled according to the NCRS in order to maximise consistency between states and territories.

SCOPE AND COVERAGE

The scope of this collection includes victims of offences classified to selected divisions and/or subdivisions of the Australian and New Zealand Standard Offence Classification (cat. no. 1234.0). A victim can be a person, premises, organisation, or motor vehicle depending on the type of offence.

The scope of family and domestic violence 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.

Indigenous status data are available for a selected range of personal offences for New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and the Northern Territory. Based on an ABS data quality assessment, Indigenous status data for other jurisdictions are not of sufficient quality for national reporting within the Recorded Crime Victims collection.

DEFINITION OF FAMILY AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Within the context of the Recorded Crime Victims collection, a Family and Domestic Violence (FDV)-related offence is defined as an offence involving at least two persons who were in a specified family or domestic relationship at the time of the offence; or where the offence was determined by a police officer to be family and/or domestic violence related as part of their investigation. The determination of offences as FDV-related varies across jurisdictions based on relevant state and territory legislation.

For the purposes of the Recorded Crime Victims collection, a specified family or domestic relationship includes:

• Partner (spouse, husband, wife, boyfriend, and girlfriend);
• Ex-partner (Ex-spouse, ex-husband, ex-wife, ex- boyfriend, ex-girlfriend);
• Parent (including step-parents);
• Other family member (including, but not limited to, child, sibling, grandparent, aunt, uncle, cousin, niece, nephew); and
• Other non-family member (carer, guardian, kinship relationships).

Selected FDV offences are limited to the following Australian and New Zealand Standard Offence Classification (cat. no. 1234.0) subdivision offences:

• Murder;
• Attempted Murder;
• Manslaughter;
• Assault;
• Sexual assault; and
• Abduction and kidnapping.

DEFINITION OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE

Sexual violence data are classified to subdivision 031 'Sexual assault' of the Australian and New Zealand Standard Offence Classification (cat. no. 1234.0). This subdivision is defined as physical contact, or intent of contact, of a sexual nature directed toward another person where that person does not give consent, gives consent as a result of intimidation or deception, or consent is proscribed (i.e. the person is legally deemed incapable of giving consent because of youth, temporary/permanent (mental) incapacity or there is a familial relationship).

DATA AVAILABILITY AND DISSEMINATION

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

Other data from the collection may be available from the ABS on request. Subject to confidentiality and data quality constraints, special tabulations can be produced incorporating data items and populations selected to meet individual requirements. These are available on request 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

Recorded Crime – Victims, Australia (cat. no. 4510.0)

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
Psycho-social factors	FDV & SV
Risk	FDV & SV
Community prevalence	FDV & SV
Community incidence	FDV & SV
Incident/Experience	FDV & SV
Characteristics of incident	FDV & SV
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
Socio-demographic	FDV & SV
Sex	FDV & SV
Age	FDV & SV
Indigenous status	FDV & SV1
Cultural and linguistic diversity
Marital status
Disability status
Employment status
Educational attainment
Socioeconomic status
Mental health
Other

[1] Indigenous status data are only published for New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and the Northern Territory. Based on an ABS data quality assessment, Indigenous status data for other jurisdictions are not of sufficient quality for national reporting within the Recorded Crime Victims collection

EVENT

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

DATA ITEMS	DATA AVAILABILITY
Location	FDV & SV
Home/residential location	FDV & SV
Workplace/place of study	SV
Public transport	FDV & SV
At a place of entertainment or recreation	SV
Other public place	FDV open space; street/footpath; other community location SV community location; open space; street/footpath
Other	FDV & SV retail
Relationship	FDV & SV
Current partner/spouse
Previous partner/spouse
Boyfriend/girlfriend/date
Parent	FDV
Child
Sibling
Other relative/family member
Other known person
Stranger	SV
Other	FDV intimate partner; partner; ex-partner; other family member SV known to victim; family member; non-family member
Other characteristics	FDV & SV
Weapon use	FDV & SV
Alcohol/other substance involved
Physical injuries sustained
Hospitalisation
Other

TRANSACTION

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

DATA ITEMS	DATA AVAILABILITY
Detection and prosecution	FDV & SV
Police	FDV & SV outcome of investigation at 30 days
Courts
Corrections
Other
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