4530.0 - Crime Victimisation, Australia, 2015-16 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 02/02/2017   
   Page tools: Print Print Page Print all pages in this productPrint All

KEY FINDINGS

This release presents information from the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ (ABS) 2015–16 national Crime Victimisation Survey, which is the eighth in the annual series.

The survey collected data, via personal telephone interview, about people’s experiences of crime victimisation for a range of selected personal and household crimes. The survey also collected data about whether persons experiencing crime reported these incidents to police, selected characteristics of persons experiencing crime, and selected characteristics of the most recent incident experienced.

PERSONAL CRIME

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

  • 2.4% (462,200) experienced at least one physical assault
  • 2.9% (543,500) experienced at least one threatened assault, including face-to-face and non face-to-face threatened assaults
  • 0.4% (70,600) experienced at least one robbery.

Of the 18.0 million persons aged 18 years and over, 0.4% (77,400) experienced at least one sexual assault.

Of those Australians who experienced physical assault in the last 12 months, nearly half (48%) experienced more than one incident. Almost two-thirds (64%) of those who experienced threatened assault experienced multiple incidents.

The results from the 2015–16 survey were similar to those from the 2014–15 survey, with no significant change in the victimisation rates for personal crime. Since 2008–09, there has been a general decline in the victimisation rate for face-to-face threatened assault. There was no clear change in the victimisation rates for physical assault, non face-to-face threatened assault, robbery and sexual assault over the same time period.

HOUSEHOLD CRIME

In the 12 months prior to interview in 2015–16, of the 9.0 million households in Australia:
  • 4.8% of households (434,000) experienced at least one incident of malicious property damage
  • 2.9% of households (264,400) experienced at least one incident of theft from a motor vehicle
  • 2.7% of households (238,900) experienced at least one incident of other theft
  • 2.5% of households (225,700) experienced at least one break-in to their home, garage or shed
  • 2.1% of households (185,900) experienced at least one attempted break-in to their home, garage or shed
  • 0.5% of households (48,600) had at least one motor vehicle stolen.

The majority of households that experienced household crime in the 12 months prior to interview experienced a single incident. This includes:
  • 88% of households that experienced motor vehicle theft
  • 86% of households that experienced theft from a motor vehicle
  • 80% of households that experienced break-in
  • 79% of households that experienced other theft
  • 78% of households that experienced attempted break-in
  • 78% of households that experienced malicious property damage.

This contrasts with selected personal crimes, where people were more likely to experience multiple incidents.

The results for selected household crimes from the 2015–16 survey were similar to those from the 2014–15 survey, with the only significant change in the national victimisation rate for malicious property damage, which fell from 5.7% in 2014–15 to 4.8% in 2015–16. Since 2008–09, there has been a general decline in the victimisation rate for all selected household crimes (break-in, attempted break-in, motor vehicle theft, theft from a motor vehicle, malicious property damage and other theft).