MEDIA RELEASE
June 28, 2018	Embargoed: 11:30am (AEST)
Recording of sexual assaults reaches eight-year high

The number of sexual assault victims increased by 8 per cent across Australia from 2016, reaching an eight-year high in 2017, according to figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today.

ABS Director of Crime and Justice Statistics William Milne said that there were almost 25,000 victims of sexual assault recorded by police in 2017.

"This is the sixth consecutive annual increase in the number of victims recorded for this offence and the highest number recorded since the time series began in 2010," he said.

More than four in five sexual assault victims were female (82 per cent or 20,556 victims).

Mr Milne said, "Recording of female victims of sexual assault increased by 9 per cent since last year – the largest annual increase since 2010."

There were 8,409 victims of family and domestic violence-related sexual assault recorded by police, which accounted for a third (34 per cent) of all victims of sexual assault recorded nationally over the same period.

Since 2010, the number of victims has decreased nationally across a range of offences:

• Homicide – down 10 per cent to 414 victims
• Robbery – down 34 per cent to 9,599 victims
• Burglary – down 15 per cent to 176,153 victims

Further information can be found in Recorded Crime - Victims, Australia, 2017 (cat. no. 4510.0) available for free download from the ABS website: https://abs.gov.au/.

Media notes:

• When reporting ABS data, you must attribute the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or ABS) as the source.
• The 2017 publication marks the eighth year of a new time series following a break in series for the collection in the 2010 publication.
• A victim for the purposes of this publication is defined by the type of offence committed. This can be a person, a premises, an organisation or a motor vehicle.
• For the purposes of this publication victims of selected offences have been determined to be family and domestic violence-related where the relationship of offender to victim, as stored in police recording systems, falls within a specified family or domestic relationship, or where a family and domestic-violence-related flag has been recorded, following police investigation. A specified family and domestic relationship may include (but is not limited to) partner, ex-partner, parent, or other family member.
• For media requests and interviews, contact the ABS Media Team on 1300 175 070 or media@abs.gov.au (8.30am - 5pm Mon-Fri).
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