TECHNICAL NOTE
Queensland Criminal Courts Family and Domestic Violence statistics
Queensland Criminal Courts were able to supply some FDV data to the ABS as a result of legislative changes that were enacted in December 2015. The data are not included in the Experimental FDV datacube for 2015–16 as FDV offences were not able to be identified for the whole reference period.
The Queensland parliament passed the Criminal Law (Domestic Violence) Amendment Act 2015 on 15 October 2015. The Act amended the Criminal Code, the Domestic and Family Violence Protection Act 2012, the Evidence Act 1977, the Justices Act 1886 and the Penalties and Sentences Act 1992 to implement a number of criminal law reforms recommended by the Special Taskforce on Domestic and Family Violence in Queensland.
Among the changes, the Queensland Criminal Courts are now able to record an offence as an FDV offence by reference to s47 (9) of the Justices Act 1886 for charges lodged in the Magistrates’ Courts, and through reference to s564 (3A) of the Criminal Code Act 1899 for indictments lodged in the Supreme and Districts Courts (this includes Children’s Courts). These changes came into effect on 1 December 2015. As a result the Queensland Criminal Courts were able to supply the ABS with an FDV indicator. For the 2015–16 reference period this FDV indicator has been applied to all finalisations from 1 December 2015 to 30 June 2016.
In addition, Queensland Criminal Courts were also able to identify FDV related 1531 Breach of violence order offences through reference to the Domestic and Family Violence Protection Act 2012 in the charge. These data were available for the entire 2015–16 reference period.
The number of FDV offences identified using these two methodologies is detailed in Tables 1 and 2 below.
| Table 1 FDV offence counts by court level, selected offence types, Queensland, 1 December 2015 – 30 June 2016 |
|
| Offence type | Higher Courts | Magistrates' Courts | Children's Courts |
|
| 01 Homicide and related offences | 4 | 3 | 0 |
| 02 Acts intended to cause injury | 231 | 825 | 17 |
| 021 Assault | 215 | 819 | 17 |
| 03 Sexual assault and related offences | 358 | 17 | 5 |
| 05 Abduction, harassment and other offences against the person | 21 | 37 | 3 |
| 121 Property damage | 36 | 643 | 5 |
|
| Table 2 FDV offence counts by court level, 1531 Breach of violence order, Queensland 2015–16 |
|
| Offence type | Higher Courts | Magistrates' Courts | Children's Courts |
|
| 1531 Breach of violence orders (a) | 302 | 15,823 | 66 |
|
| (a) FDV indicator applied to 1531 Breach of violence order offences over whole 12 month reference period. |
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