OVERVIEW OF CRIME IN AUSTRALIA ^{Endnote 1}


WHICH PERSONAL CRIMES ARE INCLUDED IN THE SURVEY?

Personal crime in the Crime Victimisation Survey refers to crimes, or offences, that were committed against a person directly, which caused or threatened harm to their physical self.

As Diagram 2 shows, the types of personal crime included in the Crime Victimisation Survey are physical assault, threatened assault (including face-to-face and non face-to-face threatened assault), robbery (including attempts), and sexual assault (including attempts). Information about experiences of physical assault, threatened assault and robbery are collected for people aged 15 years and over, and information about sexual assault is collected for people aged 18 years and over.


Diagram 2: Types of personal crime included in the Crime Victimisation Survey







HOW MANY PERSONS EXPERIENCED PERSONAL CRIME IN 2014-15? (Table 1)

In the 12 months prior to interview in 2014-15, of the 18.7 million persons aged 15 years and over in Australia:

• 400,400 (2.1%) experienced at least one physical assault
• 549,500 (2.9%) experienced at least one threatened assault, including face-to-face and non face-to-face threatened assaults
• 55,900 (0.3%) experienced at least one robbery
• Of the 17.8 million persons aged 18 years and over, 58,600 (0.3%) experienced at least one sexual assault.

Australians were more likely to experience face-to-face threatened assault than any of the other selected personal crime types. Physical assault was the second most frequent personal crime type experienced in 2014-15.


Personal Crime Victimisation Rates, Australia, 2014-15




WHICH HOUSEHOLD CRIMES ARE INCLUDED IN THE SURVEY?

Household crime in the Crime Victimisation Survey refers to crimes, or offences, that were committed with the intention of depriving a person of, or damaging, their personal property.

The types of household crime included in the Crime Victimisation Survey are break-in, attempted break-in, motor vehicle theft, theft of property from a motor vehicle, malicious property damage and other types of theft (Diagram 3). When referring to victims of these types of crime, it is the household as a whole that is considered the victim, rather than a specific individual within the household.


Diagram 3: Types of household crime included in the Crime Victimisation Survey







HOW MANY HOUSEHOLDS EXPERIENCED HOUSEHOLD CRIME IN 2014-15? (Table 1)

In the 12 months prior to interview in 2014-15, of the 8.9 million households in Australia:

• 511,400 (5.7%) households experienced at least one incident of malicious property damage
• 254,700 (2.9%) households experienced at least one theft from a motor vehicle
• 261,400 (2.9%) households experienced at least one incident of other theft
• 242,500 (2.7%) households experienced at least one break-in to their home, garage or shed
• 180,600 (2.0%) households experienced at least one attempted break-in to their home, garage or shed
• 53,400 (0.6%) households had at least one motor vehicle stolen.

Households were more likely to experience malicious property damage than any other of the selected household crimes and less likely to experience motor vehicle theft.


Household Crime Victimisation Rates, Australia, 2014-15





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.