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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OVERVIEW OF PERSONAL CRIMES 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

Diagram showing that personal crime is comprised of total assault, robbery and sexual assault. Total assault can be broken down into physical assault and threatened assault (which includes face-to-face and non face-to-face threatened assault)


HOW MANY PERSONS EXPERIENCED PERSONAL CRIME IN 2015–16? (Table 1)

In the 12 months prior to interview in 2015–16, of the 18.9 million persons aged 15 years and over in Australia:

  • 4.8% (902,600) experienced at least one total assault (includes physical and threatened assault)
  • 2.4% (462,200) experienced at least one physical assault
  • 0.4% (70,600) experienced at least one robbery.

In the 12 months prior to interview in 2015–16, of the 18.0 million persons aged 18 years and over, 0.4% (77,400) experienced at least one sexual assault.

Of the selected personal crimes, Australians were more likely to experience face-to-face threatened assault and physical assault, and least likely to experience robbery and sexual assault.

Graph Image for VICTIMISATION RATES(a), Selected personal crimes, Australia, 2015-16

Footnote(s): (a) The total number of persons experiencing a crime in a given population, expressed as a percentage of that population. (b) Experience of sexual assault was collected for persons aged 18 years and over only.

Source(s): Crime Victimisation, Australia


ENDNOTES

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.