4530.0 - Crime Victimisation, Australia, 2014-15

ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 17/02/2016

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Key findings In this issue Introduction + Overview of crime in Australia + State and Territory spotlights + Who experienced personal and household crimes Physical assault Threatened assault Contribution of alcohol (and other substances) to assault Robbery Sexual assault Break-in and Attempted break-in Motor vehicle theft and theft from a motor vehicle Malicious property damage Other theft Physical assault falls to seven year low (Media Release) About this Release History of Changes	MALICIOUS PROPERTY DAMAGE ^{Endnote 1} WHAT IS MALICIOUS PROPERTY DAMAGE? In this survey, malicious property damage is defined as the intentional or wilful (not accidental) damage, defacement or destruction of any part of the victim's home or anything usually kept at home. Property is something tangible in nature, including land, conveyances, animals or other objects capable of being privately owned. Destruction can mean any alteration that may render something imperfect or inoperative, including destruction of property, graffiti or vandalism, partial destruction, killing or harming an owned animal and removing or destroying a plant or other part of an owned landscape. Malicious property damage excludes: damage to rental, investment or holiday properties owned by a member of the household acts such as turning off water meters and flicking safety switches if no damage to the meter occurred. VICTIMISATION AND REPORTING RATES FOR 2014-15 (Table 1) During the 12 months prior to interview, an estimated 511,400 Australian households (5.7% of all households) experienced at least one incident of malicious property damage. Half (52%) of households that experienced malicious property damage reported the most recent incident to police. WHAT ELSE DO WE KNOW ABOUT MALICIOUS PROPERTY DAMAGE INCIDENTS? (Table 24) This section discusses characteristics of the most recent incident for households that were victims of malicious property damage in the 12 months prior to interview. In the most recent incident of malicious property damage: Exterior items were the most common type of property damaged, defaced, or destroyed (63% of all households), followed by a car or other motor vehicle (28% of all households) For 27% of households, the main reason for not reporting the incident to police was that it was considered too trivial/unimportant. A further 11% of households believed that there was nothing 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. Document Selection These documents will be presented in a new window.