THREATENED ASSAULT ^{Endnote 1}

WHAT IS THREATENED ASSAULT?

For this survey, threatened assault is defined as a verbal and/or physical threat to inflict physical harm, where the person being threatened believed the threat was able and likely to be carried out. Threatened assault may occur face-to-face or via non face-to-face methods (such as email).

Threatened assault includes:

• any threat or attempt to strike the person which could cause pain
• situations where a gun was left in an obvious place (including fake or toy guns where the person thought it was real) or where the person knew the offender had access to a gun
• incidents where the person was threatened in their line of work.

Threatened assault excludes:

• any incident of name calling or swearing which did not involve a physical threat
• threats that resulted in an actual assault (the latter are counted under the personal crime of physical assault).

FACE-TO-FACE THREATENED ASSAULT

Face-to-face threatened assault includes any verbal and/or physical threat, made in person, to inflict physical harm where the person being threatened believed the threat was able and likely to be carried out. It excludes any incident where the person did not encounter the offender in person (e.g. via telephone, text message, e-mail, in writing or through social media).

WHO EXPERIENCED FACE-TO-FACE THREATENED ASSAULT IN THE 12 MONTHS PRIOR TO INTERVIEW IN 2015–16? (Table 13)

In the 12 months prior to interview, 2.6% of Australians aged 15 years and over (492,000) experienced face-to-face threatened assault. A similar proportion of men (2.7%) and women (2.5%) experienced face-to-face threatened assault during this period.

The following groups were more likely to experience face-to-face threatened assault in the last 12 months:

• unmarried persons (3.7%) compared to married persons (1.8%)
• persons born in Australia (3.0%) compared to persons born overseas (1.8%).

EXPERIENCE OF MULTIPLE VICTIMISATION (Table 9)

Two out of five (42% or 207,000) persons who experienced face-to-face threatened assault experienced a single incident in the 12 months prior to interview, while 22% (109,800) experienced two incidents. A further 35% (169,300) experienced three or more incidents of face-to-face threatened assault.

FACE-TO FACE THREATENED ASSAULT VICTIMISATION RATE BY AGE (Table 13)

The face-to-face threatened assault victimisation rate for 20 to 24 year olds was 4.3%, while for persons aged 65 years and over the victimisation rate was 0.7%.


WHAT ELSE DO WE KNOW ABOUT FACE-TO-FACE THREATENED ASSAULT INCIDENTS? (Table 15)

This section discusses characteristics of the most recent incident for persons who experienced face-to-face threatened assault 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 the person (see Technical Note).

REPORTING RATE (Table 15)

Approximately two out of five (41%) persons who experienced face-to-face threatened assault had their most recent incident reported to police. An estimated 65% of men and 55% of women did not have the most recent incident reported to police.

The main reason men did not report the incident to police included: too trivial/unimportant (19%), thought there was nothing the police could do (15%) and personal matter (10%).

The main reason women did not report the incident to police included: too trivial/unimportant (12%), personal matter (8%) and thought there was nothing the police could do (7%).

OTHER SELECTED CHARACTERISTICS (Table 15)

In the most recent incident of face-to-face threatened assault experienced by women:

• the offender was more commonly a male (70%) than a female (22%)
• the offender was more commonly a known person (70%) than a stranger (31%)
• of the known offenders, 19% were an intimate partner
• the most common location of the incident was at the person’s home (40%).

In the most recent incident of face-to-face threatened assault experienced by men:

• the offender was more commonly a male (88%) than a female (8%)
• the offender was known to the man in just over half of incidents (52%)
• frequent locations where the incident occurred included work (27%) and in the street/other open land (22%).

NON FACE-TO-FACE THREATENED ASSAULT

Non face-to-face threatened assault includes any threat to inflict physical harm where the person experiencing the incident did not encounter the offender in person, such as via telephone, text message, e-mail, in writing or through social media, and the person being threatened believed the threat was able and likely to be carried out.

WHO EXPERIENCED NON FACE-TO-FACE THREATENED ASSAULT IN THE 12 MONTHS PRIOR TO INTERVIEW IN 2015–16? (Table 13)

In the 12 months prior to interview, 1.0% of Australians aged 15 years and over (182,300) experienced non face-to-face threatened assault. There was no significant difference in the non face-to-face threatened assault victimisation rate between women (1.1%) and men (0.9%).

The following groups were more likely to experience non face-to-face threatened assault in the last 12 months:

• unmarried persons (1.7%) compared to married persons (0.5%)
• persons living outside capital cities (1.3%) compared to persons living in capital cities (0.9%)
• persons born in Australia (1.2%) compared to persons born overseas (0.5%).

REPORTING RATE (Table 5)

About a third (37%) of all persons who experienced non face-to-face threatened assault had their most recent incident reported to police.

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.