HOW MANY PEOPLE EXPERIENCED PERSONAL CRIME IN 2012-13? ^{Endnote 1}

VICTIMISATION (see Datacube 1, Table 1)

In the 12 months prior to interview in 2012–13, Australians were more likely to experience threatened assault than any of the other selected personal crime types. They were also more likely to experience physical assault than either robbery or sexual assault.

Of the 18.4 million people aged 15 years and over in Australia, an estimated:

• 576,800 (3.1%) were victims of at least one threatened assault, including face-to-face and non face-to-face threatened assaults
• 498,000 (2.7%) were victims of at least one physical assault
• 65,700 (0.4%) were victims of at least one robbery
• 40,700 (0.2%) were victims of at least one sexual assault (people aged 18 years and over only).

REPORTING TO POLICE (see Datacube 1, Table 1)

The proportion of victims who reported the most recent incident of each type of personal crime they experienced to police varied depending on the type of crime. The reporting rates for victims who experienced physical assault and robbery were higher than the reporting rates for victims of face to face threatened assault and non face-to-face threatened assault. The reporting rate for sexual assault has been excluded from this discussion as there is a high relative standard error associated with this estimate (see Datacube 1, Table 1a).

In 2012-13, an estimated:

• 50% of physical assault victims (or 247,700 victims) reported their most recent incident to police
• 50% of robbery victims (or 32,700 victims) reported their most recent incident to police
• 37% of face-to-face threatened assault victims (or 190,500 victims) reported their most recent incident to police
• 25% of non face-to-face threatened assault victims (or 51,400 victims) reported their most recent incident to police.

EXPERIENCE OF MULTIPLE VICTIMISATION (see Datacube 2, Table 6)

Table A (below) provides a summary of the number and proportion of victims who experienced a single incident compared to multiple incidents of each type of selected personal crime within the 12 months prior to interview.

• Of the selected personal crime types, victims of robbery were the most likely to experience a single incident only. Approximately three quarters (76%) of robbery victims experienced one incident only, compared to nearly half (47%) of physical assault victims and approximately one third (32%) of threatened assault victims. Victims of physical assault were more likely than victims of threatened assault to experience a single incident.
• Nearly half (47%) of people who experienced threatened assault (including both face-to-face and non face-to-face threatened assault) experienced three or more incidents of threatened assault. In comparison, just under one third (30%) of victims of physical assault experienced three or more incidents.
  

Robbery involving two or three or more incidents were excluded from analysis.^{Endnote 2}

	Persons				Proportions
	Victims experiencing one or multiple incidents			Total victims(a)	Victims experiencing one or multiple incidents			Total victims(a)
	One incident	Two incidents	Three or more incidents		One incident	Two incidents	Three or more incidents
	'000	'000	'000	'000	%	%	%	%
Physical assault	235.0	105.7	150.9	498.0	47.2	21.2	30.3	100.0
Threatened assault(b)	184.6	101.8	271.0	576.8	32.0	17.7	47.0	100.0
Robbery	49.7	*7.4	*6.2	65.7	75.7	*11.2	*9.4	100.0
(a) Includes persons where the number of incidents experienced is unknown (b) Includes both face-to-face and non face-to-face threatened assault * Estimate has a relative standard error (RSE) of 25% to 50% and should be used with caution.

ENDNOTES

1 All comparisons discussed have been tested for statistical significance with a 95% level of confidence that there is a real difference in the two populations being tested. Only data with a relative standard error (RSE) of less than 25% is referred to in the text of this publication. For further information, refer to the Technical Note.

2 Due to the relatively small numbers of persons experiencing two or more incidents of robbery in the 12 months prior to interview, these estimates are subject to high sampling error and as such have not been included in the analysis (for further details refer to the Technical Note).