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)

Alcohol and other substances appear to play a major role in incidents of physical assault. Nationally, 62% of persons who experienced physical assault believed that alcohol or any other substance contributed to their most recent incident. This included:

• 63% of males who experienced physical assault
• 59% of females who experienced physical assault
• 70% of persons aged 25-34 who experienced physical assault
• 94% 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 30% of most recent incidents).

Of the 96,200 persons aged 25-34 who experienced physical assault, over two-thirds (70%) believed that alcohol or any other substance contributed to their most recent physical assault.

Victims reported that alcohol or any other substance contributed to the most recent incident for the same proportion of male (60%) and female (60%) offenders.

Alcohol or any other substance was believed to have contributed to the most recent assault in the majority of incidents involving a current partner (67%), previous partner (56%), boyfriend/girlfriend/ex-boyfriend/ex-girlfriend (89%), family member (67%), friend (82%), or stranger (65%).

Persons who experienced physical assault reported that alcohol or any other substance contributed to the most recent incident in the majority of incidents that occurred in the person's home (62%), in another person's home (80%), at work (54%), in the street or open land (68%), and in a licensed entertainment/recreation venue (94%).

There has been no significant change between 2013-14 and 2014-15 in the proportion of victims of physical assault who believed that alcohol or any other substance contributed to their most recent incident of physical assault.

FACE-TO-FACE THREATENED ASSAULT (Table 16)

Nationally, half (49%) of all persons who experienced face-to-face threatened assault believed that alcohol or any other substance contributed to their most recent incident. This included:

• 51% of males who experienced face-to-face threatened assault
• 46% of females who experienced face-to-face threatened assault
• 63% of persons aged 25 to 34 years who experienced face-to-face threatened assault
• 85% of persons who experienced their most recent incident at a train station, bus stop or bus interchange.

Persons aged 25-34 experienced the largest number of face-to-face threatened assaults (114,400) of any age group and a large proportion (63%) believed that alcohol or any other substance contributed to their most recent face-to-face threatened assault.

Victims reported that alcohol or any other substance contributed to the most recent incident for the same proportion of male (49%) and female (46%) offenders.

Persons who experienced face-to-face threatened assault believed that alcohol or any other substance contributed to the most recent incident in the majority of incidents when the offender was a boyfriend/girlfriend/ex-boyfriend/ex-girlfriend (64%), a neighbour (62%) or a stranger (59%).

Alcohol or any other substance was believed to have contributed to a greater proportion of incidents occurring at a train station, bus stop, or interchange (85%), than in any other location.

There has been no significant change between 2013-14 and 2014-15 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 face-to-face threatened assault.

ENDNOTE

Endnote 1 While this question was asked of all respondents aged 15 years and over, data have 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.