4530.0 - Crime Victimisation, Australia, 2013-14 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 17/02/2015   
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CONTRIBUTION OF ALCOHOL OR ANY OTHER SUBSTANCE TO ASSAULT

Since the 2010-11 Crime Victimisation Survey, persons who experienced physical assault and face-to-face threatened assault have been asked whether they believed alcohol or any other substance contributed to their most recent incident of assault. Endnote 1


PHYSICAL ASSAULT (Table 14)

Nationally, 62% of persons who experienced physical assault believed that alcohol or any other substance contributed to their most recent incident. This included:

    • 67% of males who experienced physical assault
    • 55% of females who experienced physical assault
    • Three-quarters of victims of physical assault aged 18 to 24 years (75%)
    • 91% of victims whose most recent incident occurred at a licensed entertainment/recreation venue.

In general, persons who experienced physical assault believed that alcohol or any other substance contributed to their most recent incident more often than not (62% compared with 31% of most recent incidents). More males who experienced physical assault (67%) reported that they believed alcohol contributed to the most recent incident of physical assault than female victims (55%). Alcohol or any other substance was perceived to have contributed to the most recent incident of physical assault more often than not in age groups 18-24 (75% compared with 27%), 25-34 (70% compared with 20%) and 35-44 (65% compared with 26%).

Victims reported that alcohol contributed to the most recent incident more often when the offender was male (66%) than when the offender was female (47%).

Where the offender was:
    • A current partner (66%), previous partner (61%) or boyfriend/girlfriend/ex-boyfriend/ex-girlfriend (77%), alcohol was more likely to have contributed than not
    • A friend (77%), neighbour (61%), an offender who was known by sight only (65%) or a stranger (70%), alcohol was more likely to have contributed than not
    • A stranger (70%), victims reported that alcohol contributed to the most recent incident more often than when the offender was known to them (56%).

Victims reported that alcohol contributed to the most recent incident more often than not when the incident occurred in the victim's home (56% compared with 38%), in another person's home (79% compared with 11%), or in the street or open land (63% compared with 21%).

There has been no significant change between 2012-13 and 2013-14 in the proportion of victims of physical assault who believed that alcohol or any other substance contributed to their most recent incident of assault.


FACE-TO-FACE THREATENED ASSAULT (Table 16)

Nationally, 51% of persons who experienced face-to-face threatened assault believed that alcohol or any other substance contributed to their most recent incident. This included:

    • 49% of males who experienced face to face threatened assault
    • 52% of females who experienced face to face threatened assault
    • 59% of persons who were aged 25 to 34 years
    • 74% of persons who experienced face to face threatened assault at a licensed entertainment/recreation venue.
Males who experienced face to face threatened assault were more likely to have believed that alcohol had contributed to the most recent incident (49%), than to believe that it had not (36%).

Victims believed that alcohol contributed to the most recent incident more often than not when the offender was a stranger (53% compared with 23%) or friend (66% compared with 23%).

Alcohol was believed to have contributed to a greater proportion of incidents occurring in licensed entertainment/recreation venues than in any other location.

There has been no significant change between 2012-13 and 2013-14 in the proportion of victims of face-to-face threatened assault who believed that alcohol or any other substance contributed to their most recent incident of assault.


ENDNOTE

Endnote 1: While this question was asked of all respondents aged 15 years and over, data has only been published for those 18 years and over. The responses of respondents aged 15 to 17 years may have been provided by a proxy respondent (such as a parent) and as this is a perception based question it was not asked of proxies. See Data Collection section of the Explanatory Notes for more information.