PERSONAL CRIME TIME SERIES

The 2011–12 Crime Victimisation Survey was the fourth annual national survey of crime victimisation in Australia, with the first survey conducted in 2008–09. The following sections explore the changes in the victimisation counts and rates, reporting rates and number of incidents for the selected personal crimes for both Australia and the states and territories since the previous year’s survey. Changes in the data from between the first Crime Victimisation Survey in 2008–09 and the most recent survey in 2011–12 are also explored. Definitions of the selected personal crime types can be found in the Glossary or the sections of the commentary focusing on each type of crime.

VICTIMISATION

National

Change since 2010-11
Of the selected personal crimes included in the survey, the number of victims of non face-to-face threatened assault, total threatened assault and total assault increased between 2010–11 to 2011–12. Physical assault, face-to-face threatened assault, robbery and sexual assault showed no statistically significant difference over the same period. There were no statistically significant changes in the victimisation rates for any of the selected personal crimes.

The number of victims of non face-to-face threatened assault rose from 170,700 in 2010–11 to 213,100 in 2011–12. There was also a rise in the number of victims of total threatened assault (594,300 to 667,700) and total assault (994,300 to 1.1 million) over this period.

Change since 2008-09
Looking at a broader period, there were no statistically significant changes in the number of victims or victimisation rate for physical assault, non face-to-face threatened assault and sexual assault from 2008–09 to 2011–12.

The number and rate of victims of robbery declined from 96,700, or 0.6%, in 2008–09 to 66,400, or 0.4%, in 2011–12. There was also a decline in just the victimisation rate for some of the other selected personal crimes. Total threatened assault decreased from 4.2% in 2008–09 to 3.7% in 2011–12. This was largely driven by one component of threatened assault, face-to-face threatened assault, which declined from 3.9% to 3.3% over this period.

2008-09 to 2011-12 Number of Victims of Personal Crimes, Australia

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

States and Territories

Change since 2010-11
There were no statistically significant changes for the majority of the sates and territories for victimisation of the selected personal crimes between 2011–12 and the previous year. However, more people in Victoria experienced physical assault in 2011–12 than 2010–11, up from 90,400, or 2.0%, in 2010–11 to 134,900, or 3.0%, in 2011–12.

Change since 2008-09
Similarly, there were no statistically significant changes for the majority of the sates and territories for victimisation of the selected personal crimes between 2008-09 and 2011–12. Over this period, the number of victims of physical assault in the ACT increased to an estimated 13,600 victims in 2011–12 compared with 7,500 victims in 2008–09. Meanwhile, there was a decline in the number and rate of victims of face-to-face threatened assault in Victoria from 171,600, or 4.0%, in 2008–09 to 132,900, or 2.9%, in 2011–12.

NUMBER OF INCIDENTS

Change since 2010-11
While there was no statistically significant change in the number of victims of physical assault in the last year, there was an increase in the number of incidents of this type of crime. The number of incidents of physical assault rose from 1.5 million in 2010–11 to 2.2 million in 2011–12. There was also an increase in the number of incidents of threatened assault in Australia, with an estimated 4.4 million incidents of threatened assault occurring in 2011–12, up from 3.4 million incidents in 2010–11. Consequently, there was a rise in the number of incidents of total assault from 4.8 million in 2010–11 to 6.4 million in 2011–12.

Change since 2008-09
There were no statistically significant differences in the number of incidents for physical assault, threatened assault or total assault between 2008–09 and 2011–12.

Experience of Multiple Incidents

The proportion of victims who experienced three or more incidents of physical assault increased from around 26%of victims in 2010–11 to just over 33% in 2011–12. Conversely, the proportion of victims who experienced one incident of physical assault decreased from 54% to 45% over this period.

REPORTING TO POLICE

National

Overall, reporting rates remained stable between the 2008–09 and 2010–11 surveys. The only change in reporting rates for Australia for the selected types of personal crime was for face-to-face threatened assault, which rose from 30% to 38% over this period.

2008-09 to 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.
* The estimates for 2010-11 for sexual assault has a relative standard error between 25% and 50% and should be used with caution.

States and Territories

Change since 2010-11
There were no statistically significant changes in rates of reporting to police for any of the states and territories between 2011–12 and 2010–11 for any of the selected personal crimes.

Change since 2008-09
The rate of reporting to police for face-to-face threatened assault in NSW increased from 28% in 2008–09 to 45% in 2011–12. No other statistically significant changes occurred for the reporting rates across any of the other selected personal crimes from 2008–09 to 2011–12.

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