4530.0 - Crime Victimisation, Australia, 2014-15 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 17/02/2016   
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OTHER THEFT Endnote 1

WHAT IS OTHER THEFT?

In this survey, other theft is defined as the unlawful taking of money or goods owned by a household member (other than from motor vehicles owned by a household member) with the intent to permanently deprive the owner of the money or goods, without the use, or threat, of force or violence, coercion or deception. It includes:

    • Property belonging to a member of the household not covered by the other types of crime included in the survey
    • Property belonging to a household member stolen from a vehicle not owned by a household member
    • Property stolen from a yard or garden (e.g. statues or plants).

Other theft excludes any incidents involving theft covered in other crime types in the survey (e.g. break-in or robbery).

Other theft is considered to be a household crime for the purpose of this survey.


VICTIMISATION AND REPORTING RATES FOR 2014-15 (Table 1)

In the 12 months prior to interview in 2014-15, an estimated 261,400 households (2.9% of all households) experienced at least one incident of other theft. Just over a third of all households (37%) that experienced other theft reported the most recent incident to police.


WHAT ELSE DO WE KNOW ABOUT OTHER THEFT INCIDENTS? (Table 25)

This section discusses characteristics of the most recent incident for households that were victims of other theft in the 12 months prior to interview.

In the most recent incident of other theft experienced by households:

    • The most common type of property stolen was money, purse or wallet (20% or 52,600 households), followed by personal items (19% or 49,000 households)
    • The most common location was the person's home (53% or 137,500 households), followed by a place of work (12% or 31,700 households)
    • Just over a quarter of all households that were a victim of other theft (29%) did not report the most recent incident to police due to the incident being seen as too trivial or unimportant. This was the most common reason the most recent incident was not reported to police. A further 16% did not report the most recent incident to police due to a belief that there was nothing that the police could do.


ENDNOTE

Endnote 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% are referred to in the text of this publication and these estimates are considered sufficiently reliable for general use. To determine whether there is a statistical difference between any other two estimates, significance testing should be undertaken. For further information, refer to the Technical Note.