GLOSSARY

Allied worker
A person whose contact with a prison in their state/territory of usual residence is through their work, although they are not prison staff. This category of worker includes clinical psychologists, counsellors, healthcare administrators and medical assistants.

Attempted break-in
An incident where an attempt was made to forcibly enter a home. It also includes attempts to break-in to a caravan (if the caravan was the respondent’s permanent residence), garage, shed or any detached secure building such as games/hobby rooms or granny flat. Includes incidents where a person saw someone acting suspiciously around the property if it was suspected that their intent was to steal property. Excludes any attempted break-in that resulted in an actual break-in (for example, where someone attempted to break in through a door but then gained entry through a window) and attempted break-ins to a motor vehicle.

Audio/visual equipment
Includes TVs, VCRs, DVD players, and stereos.

Balance of state/territory
Comprises people usually resident in areas outside of the eight capital city Statistical Divisions (as defined in the Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC) (cat. no. 1216.0)). Balance of state/territory does not include any residents of the ACT.

Break-in
An act of unauthorised forced entry into a home. Includes forced entry to garages, sheds or any detached secure buildings such as games/hobby rooms and granny flats. Caravans are only included if they were a permanent residence. Excludes forced entry to motor vehicles or front or rear yards. Also excludes any incidents of attempted break-in.

Capital cities
Comprises people usually resident in areas within the eight capital city Statistical Divisions (as defined in the Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC) (cat. no. 1216.0)). Includes all residents of the ACT.

Computer equipment
Includes PCs, printers, scanners and modems.

Confront
To come into contact with an offender or offenders during a break-in.

Criminal Courts
State and territory criminal courts in the respondent's state/territory of usual residence. Includes all levels of criminal courts, such as supreme court, district/county court and magistrates'/local court. Excludes contact with the civil courts, such as Civil and Administrative Tribunals and Industrial Relations Commissions, which deal with non-criminal cases such as divorce, child custody and suing for damages/money.

Employed
All people aged 15 years and over who, during the week prior to interview:

• worked for one hour or more for pay, profit, commission or payment in kind in a job or business, or on a farm (comprising employees, employers and own account workers)
• worked for one hour or more without pay in a family business or on a farm (i.e. contributing family workers)
• were employees who had a job but were not at work and were:
  • away from work for less than four weeks up to the end of the reference week
  • away from work for more than four weeks up to the end of the reference week and received pay for some or all of the four week period to the end of the reference week
  • away from work as a standard work or shift arrangement
  • on strike or locked out
  • on workers' compensation and expected to return to their job, or
• were employers or own account workers, who had a job, business or farm, but were not at work.

Employed full-time
Includes employed people who usually worked 35 hours or more a week (in all jobs) and those who, although usually working less than 35 hours a week, worked 35 hours or more during the reference week.

Employed part-time
Includes employed people who usually worked less than 35 hours a week (in all jobs) and either did so during the reference week, or were not at work in the reference week.

Exterior items
Includes walls, windows, doors, fences, gardens, letter boxes, statues, and outdoor settings.

Face-to face threatened assault
Any verbal and/or physical threat, made in person, to inflict physical harm where the person being threatened believed the threat was able and likely to be carried out. Excludes any incident where the victim did not encounter the offender in person (for example, via telephone, text message, e-mail, in writing or through social media).

Household
A household is defined as a group of two or more related or unrelated people who usually reside in the same dwelling, who regard themselves as a household, and who make common provision for food or other essentials for living; or a person living in a dwelling who makes provision for his/her own food and other essentials for living, without combining with any other person.

Household crime
Break-in, attempted break-in, motor vehicle theft, theft from a motor vehicle, incident of malicious property damage, or other type of theft not previously covered by the other types of crime categories, in which a household is considered to be the victim of the crime.

Incident
A single occurrence of a crime event, such as a break-in, attempted break-in, theft of a motor vehicle, or act of robbery, assault or sexual assault. Single respondents can report multiple incidents, which means the total number of victims and total number of incidents may differ.

Interior furnishings
Includes walls, floors, and ceilings.

Justice System
For the purposes of this survey, this refers to the criminal justice system and includes state and territory police, criminal courts and prisons.

Known by sight only
Used when the respondent knew of the offender(s) by sight only but did not have a personal relationship with them. Respondents were not asked whether they were living with this person at the time of the incident if this was the only response to a question about a particular incident.

Labour force status
A classification of the civilian population aged 15 years and over into employed, unemployed or not in the labour force, as defined. The definitions conform closely to the international standard definitions adopted by the International Conferences of Labour Statisticians.

Main English-speaking countries
The list of main English-speaking countries provided here is not an attempt to classify countries on the basis of whether or not English is the predominant or official language of each country. It is a list of the main countries from which Australia receives, or has received, significant numbers of overseas settlers who are likely to speak English. These countries comprise the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa and the United States of America. Non-main English-speaking countries describes people originating from countries where a language other than English is likely to be spoken by migrants. It is important to note that being from a non-main English-speaking country does not imply a lack of proficiency in English.

Malicious property damage
Intentional or wilful (not accidental) damage, defacement or destruction of any part of the respondent's home or anything usually kept at home. Excludes any rental, investment or holiday properties owned by a member of the household. Property is something tangible in nature, including land, conveyances, animals or other objects capable of being privately owned. Destruction can mean any alteration that may render something imperfect or inoperative. It can include destruction of property, graffiti or vandalism, partial destruction, killing or harming an owned animal and removing or destroying a plant or other part of an owned landscape. Excludes acts such as turning off water meters and flicking safety switches if no damage to the meter occurred.

Media
Includes television, Internet, newspapers or radio, including talk-back.

Medical treatment
Includes incidents where a respondent was admitted to hospital, or incidents where a respondent was seen by a doctor or other medical practitioner in a hospital emergency room but not admitted to hospital.

Motor vehicle parts
Includes car audio and DVD equipment.

Motor vehicle theft
An incident where a motor vehicle was stolen from any member of the household. This includes cars, utilities, motorcycles (including motorised scooters), buses, trucks and motor homes. Includes privately owned vehicles and business/employer/company owned vehicles only if the vehicle was used exclusively by members of the household. Excludes boats, trailers and company vehicles not used exclusively by household members. For the purposes of this survey, motor vehicle theft incidents are considered to be household crimes.

Non face-to-face threatened assault
Any threat to inflict physical harm where the person being threatened believed the threat was able and likely to be carried out where the victim did not encounter the offender in person. Non face-to-face threatened assault may occur through mediums such as the telephone, text message, e-mail, in writing or through social media.

Non-school qualification
Non-school qualifications are awarded for educational attainments other than those of pre-primary, primary or secondary education. They include qualifications at the Postgraduate degree level, Master degree level, Graduate Diploma and Graduate Certificate level, Bachelor degree level, Advanced Diploma and Diploma level, and Certificates I, II, III and IV levels. Non-school qualifications may be attained concurrently with school qualifications.

Non-victim
A household or person that has not reported at least one of the crimes surveyed.

Not in the labour force
People who were not in the categories employed or unemployed as defined.

Offender
A person who commits a crime, as reported by the survey respondent. A crime can be committed by multiple offenders.

Other known person
Used to describe the relationship of the offender to the respondent when the relationship did not match any of the other categories listed.

Other personal items
Refers to the type of property stolen in a crime incident and includes any other personal items not specifically listed such as clothing and compact discs.

Other theft
Any unlawful taking of money or goods (other than from motor vehicles owned by a household member) without the use, or threat, of force or violence, coercion or deception and with the intent to permanently deprive the owner of the money or goods. Includes:

• Any theft of property belonging to a member of the household not previously covered by the other types of crime included in this publication.
• Property belonging to a household member stolen from a vehicle not owned by a household member.
• Property stolen from a yard or garden (for example, statues or plants).

Excludes any incidents involving theft covered in other sections of the survey, such as break-ins or robberies. Other types of theft incidents are considered to be household crimes for the purpose of this survey.

Personal crime
Robbery, physical assault, threatened assault or sexual assault, in which an individual is considered to be the victim of the crime.

Personal matter
Relates to the reason a crime incident was not reported where the respondent felt they could deal with the issue themselves rather than involve the police.

Personal electronic equipment
Includes MP3 players and digital cameras.

Physical assault
An act of physical force or violence by the offender/s against the victim. Examples of physical force or violence include being beaten, pushed, grabbed, shoved, slapped, hit with an open hand or fist, kicked, bitten, choked, stabbed, shot, burnt, being hit with something such as a bat or being dragged or hit deliberately by a vehicle. Includes assault which may happen in the line of work. Excludes incidents that occurred during the course of play on a sporting field or organised sport, verbal abuse, incidents where the person did not encounter the offender face-to-face and incidents of sexual assault or threatened sexual assault which also involved physical assault.

Place of entertainment/recreation
Includes pubs and nightclubs.

Police
State and territory police in the respondent's state/territory of usual residence. Excludes federal police, except in ACT.

Prisons
Prisons in the respondent's state/territory of usual residence. Excludes immigration detention centres and home detention.

Private vehicle
Motor vehicle used for private purposes, for example, a car.

Professional relationship
A relationship between the respondent and other person(s) which has occurred primarily through the course of the respondent's occupation. For example, this includes engagement with clients of a business at which the respondent may have been working at the time of an incident, as well as relationships between medical professionals and patients and also relationships between police/security officers and offenders.

Public transport or public vehicle
Includes buses, trains, trams, ferries and taxis.

Qualification
Formal certification, issued by a relevant approved body, in recognition that a person has achieved an appropriate level of learning outcomes or competencies relevant to identified individual, professional, industry or community needs. Statements of attainment awarded for partial completion of a course of study at a particular level are excluded.

Relationship to offender
The person's relationship to a perpetrator(s) at the time of the incident. More than one response was allowed if there were multiple offenders involved in the incident.

Reporting rate
The total number of victims who reported the most recent incident they experienced of that type of crime to police expressed as a percentage of victims. Includes incidents where the victim did not report the incident themselves, but were aware of another person who did.

Robbery
An act of stealing (or trying to steal) property from a person by physically attacking them or threatening them with force or violence. Includes incidents of physical assault and threatened assault which also involved robbery or attempted robbery. Also includes incidents where the person was threatened in their line of work. Excludes pick pocketing or other types of theft that did not involve physical or threatened violence.

Sexual assault
An act of a sexual nature carried out against a person’s will, through the use of physical force, intimidation or coercion, or the attempt to carry out these acts. Includes all incidents of a sexual nature involving physical contact and carried out without the victim's consent, any forced sexual activity such as rape, attempted rape or indecent assault (such as being touched inside clothing or intentional rubbing of genitals against the victim) and assault with the intent to sexually assault. Also includes any incidents that may have occurred at the victim’s place of work. Excludes sexual harassment that did not lead to an assault. Only people aged 18 years and over were asked questions about sexual assault.

Theft from a motor vehicle
Where property owned by any member of the household was stolen from a motor vehicle owned (for private use) by any member of that household. Excludes property stolen that belonged to someone not living in the household (for example, a friend or other relative) and property owned by a business or employer (for example, a computer, mobile phone or work tools). Also excludes property stolen from commercial vehicles (this includes a self-employed business operator whose vehicle is mainly used for work purposes) and any break-in to a motor vehicle if nothing was stolen. For the purpose of this survey, incidents of theft from a motor vehicle are considered to be household crimes.

Threatened assault
A verbal, written and/or physical threat to inflict physical harm where the person being threatened believed the threat was able and likely to be carried out. Threatened assault may occur face-to-face or via non face-to-face methods (such as email). Includes any threat or attempt to strike the person which could cause pain and situations where a gun was left in an obvious place (including fake or toy guns where the victim thought it was real) or if the person knew the perpetrator had access to a gun (including toy guns, started pistol etc). Also includes incidents where the person was threatened in their line of work. Excludes any incident of name calling or swearing which did not involve a physical threat and threats that resulted in an actual assault.

Unemployed
People aged 15 years and over who were not employed during the reference week, and:

• had actively looked for full-time or part-time work at any time in the four weeks up to the end of the reference week and were available for work in the reference week, or
• were waiting to start a new job within four weeks from the end of the reference week and could have started in the reference week if the job had been available then.

Victim
A victim is a person or household who has experienced at least one incident of a selected type of crime within 12 months prior to the interview in 2011–12. A victim may experience more than one incident of a type of crime, but is only counted once for each type of crime experienced.

Victimisation rate
The total number of victims of a crime in a given population expressed as a percentage of that population.

Weapon used
Includes incidents where the respondent believed a weapon was present even if they did not see it and incidents where a weapon was not used but the respondent was threatened that a weapon might be used. Weapon includes knife, gun, bat/bar, bottle/glass and syringe/hypodermic needle.