MEDIA RELEASE
26 June 2014	Embargo: 11.30 am (Canberra time)	82/2014

Reports of sexual assault have hit a four year high on the back of an eight per cent jump last year, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) figures released today.

"There were just under 20,000 sexual assault victims recorded by police during 2013, an increase of eight per cent on the previous year, and the highest number of reports we've seen in the last four years," said William Milne from the ABS.

"Nationally, over four in five sexual assault victims were female and nearly two thirds were 19 or under.

“However robbery, unlawful entry with intent and motor vehicle theft have all fallen to a four year low,” said Mr Milne.

Both unlawful entry with intent and motor vehicle theft were most likely to occur at a residential location, and robbery was most likely to occur on a street or footpath.

Nearly half of all robberies involved the use of a weapon, with a knife being used in just over one in five and a gun in less than one in ten.

Homicides and kidnappings also fell.

Apart from sexual assault, blackmail or extortion was the only other offence to increase between 2012 and 2013.

Further information can be found in Recorded Crime Victims, Australia, 2013 (cat. no 4510.0), available for free download from the ABS website (www.abs.gov.au).


Media notes:

• When reporting ABS data you must attribute the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or ABS) as the source.
• This publication presents national crime statistics relating to victims of a selected range of personal and property offences that have been recorded by police during 2013. The 2013 publication marks the fourth year of a new time series following a break in series for the collection in the 2010 publication, and comparisons should not be made to data published prior to the 2010 publication.
• A victim for the purpose of this publication is defined by the type of offence committed. This can be a person, a premise, an organisation or a motor vehicle. While the definition includes non-person victims, victimisation rates are only presented for person victims.
• Media requests and interviews - contact the ABS Communications Section on 1300 175 070.