4530.0 - Crime Victimisation, Australia, 2015-16 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 02/02/2017   
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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.

WHO EXPERIENCED OTHER THEFT IN 2015–16? (Table 6)

In the 12 months prior to interview, an estimated 2.7% of households (238,900) experienced at least one incident of other theft.

WHAT ELSE DO WE KNOW ABOUT OTHER THEFT INCIDENTS?

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

As information is only collected in relation to the most recent incident, the findings are not necessarily representative of all incidents experienced by a household in the last 12 months prior to interview (see Technical Note).

REPORTING RATE (Table 25)

Over a third of all households (42% or 99,500) that experienced other theft had their most recent incident reported to police.

Just over a quarter of all households that experienced other theft (26%) did not report the most recent incident to police, due to the incident being seen as too trivial or unimportant. A further 14% believed that there was nothing that the police could do.

OTHER SELECTED CHARACTERISTICS (Table 25)

In the most recent incident of other theft experienced by households:
  • common types of property stolen were money, purse or wallet (21% or 49,900 households), other personal items (17%) and bicycles/sporting equipment (16%)
  • the most common location was the person's home (52% or 123,100 households), followed by a place of work (12% or 27,900 households).

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.