On this page:
Contact details
Purpose
Description
Definition of family and domestic violence
Relationship to Defining the data challenge for family, domestic and sexual violence (cat. no. 4529.0)
Family and domestic violence related content (data items collected)
Collection methodology
Scope / Target population
Coverage
Data availability / Dissemination
Publications
Collection history
Other directory data sources held by this agency

CRIME VICTIMISATION, AUSTRALIA

DASHBOARD METADATA

Collection type		Geographic coverage		Frequency		Data availability
Survey		National State/territory (all City/region ASGC Remoteness		Annual		Detailed publication/report publicly available Data cubes/ spreadsheets publicly available Customised data–Charged consultancy 1

[1] May be subject to release conditions

DETAILED METADATA

Contact details

Data custodian	Australian Bureau of Statistics
Contact	National Information and Referral Service
Address	Locked Bag 10, Belconnen, ACT, 2616
Telephone	1300 135 070
Facsimile	1300 135 211
Email	client.services@abs.gov.au
Internet	https://www.abs.gov.au
Source web link	Crime Victimisation, Australia 2011–12 (cat. no 4530.0)

PURPOSE

To provide national estimates on victims of a selected range of personal and household crimes, including whether victims reported these incidents to police, characteristics of victims and characteristics of their most recent incident. This publication provides headline indicators about the prevalence of victimisation in Australia for incidents that occurred over a 12 month period before the date of interview.

DESCRIPTION

Crime Victimisation data are collected as part of the Multipurpose Household Survey (MPHS). This survey is designed to collect statistics for a number of small, self-contained topics, including labour topics and other social and economic subjects.

DEFINITION OF FAMILY AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Family and domestic violence is defined by the survey questions, which ask about experiences of physical assault and face-to face threatened assault.

Aspects of family and domestic violence captured in the data are:

• Physical assault;
• Face-to face threatened assault.

RELATIONSHIP TO DEFINING THE DATA CHALLENGE FOR FAMILY, DOMESTIC AND SEXUAL VIOLENCE (cat. no. 4529.0)

The summary table below is designed to indicate the amount of information available for each of the six elements outlined in Defining the Data Challenge for Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence, 2013 (cat. no. 4529.0). This is a subjective assessment made by the ABS about the data collected and is not an indication of data quality.

Conceptual Framework	Amount of Information Available
Element/Sub–element
	Some	Detailed
Context
Environmental factors
Psycho-social factors
Risk
Community prevalence
Community incidence
Incident/event
Responses
Informal responses
Formal responses
Impacts/Outcomes
Programs, Research & Evaluation

FAMILY AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE RELATED CONTENT (data items collected)

The following tables provide a detailed analysis of the availability of specified data elements in the data source. The data items have been grouped into four counting units:

1. Context;
2. Person;
3. Incident/Event; and
4. Transaction.

Tables are absent from the entry in cases where the data source contains no data items which relate to the particular counting unit/s.

Context

Data Items	Respondent (Victim)1	Perpetrator	Secondary (Victim)
Community perceptions
Neighbourhood problems
Feelings of safety/fear
Social connectedness/networks
Other

[1] Respondent may or may not have experienced family and domestic violence. Person

Data Items	Respondent (Victim)1	Perpetrator	Secondary (Victim)
Residential location
Age
Sex
Indigenous status
Disability status
Country of birth
Language spoken
Employment status
Education
Income
Socio-economic status
Mental illness
Other : (Marital status)

[1] Respondent may or may not have experienced family and domestic violence. Incident/event

Data Items	Available
Location of incident/event
Residential location
Workplace
Educational institution
Public Place
Other Location (not specified)
Relationship between parties
Current partner
Previous partner
Boyfriend/girlfriend/date
Parent
Child
Sibling
Other relatives
Other member of household
Personal/financial dependency
Other
Other Characteristics
Weapon used
Type of weapon
Physical injury sustained
Type of injury sustained
Pregnancy
Alcohol/substance use
Prior history of victimisation/offending	1
Change to routine
Time off work/economic costs
Perceptions of behaviour as criminal
Other

[1] Number of times victimisation has occurred. Transaction

Data Items	Available
Detection
Reported to police
Reasons not reported to police
Satisfaction with police response
Application for violence order
Violence order issued
Offender charged
Offender went to court
Offender sentence type
Child protection involvement
Formal support
Services used/referral to services
Medical treatment/type
Counselling
Legal
Financial
Housing/accommodation
Crisis
Other
Informal Support
Family/friends
Minister/priest
Telephone service
Other

COLLECTION METHODOLOGY

The MPHS is conducted throughout Australia as a supplement to the Labour Force Survey and interviews are conducted predominately by telephone. One randomly selected person per household, aged 15 years or over, was asked about whether they or their household had experienced selected personal household crimes, providing information about incidents that occurred over a 12 month period prior to the date of interview. Sexual assault data are only collected from people aged 18 years and over.

SCOPE / TARGET POPULATION

People aged 15 years and over who are a usual resident of a selected dwelling (scope is taken from the Labour Force Survey and modified for the MPHS).

COVERAGE

Members of the permanent defence forces, certain diplomatic personnel of overseas governments (customarily excluded from the census and estimated resident population), overseas residents in Australia and members of non-Australian defence forces (and their dependants) are excluded. The MPHS also excludes:

• People living in non-private dwellings such as hotels, university residences;
• Students at boarding schools;
• Patients in hospitals;
• Residents of homes (eg. retirement homes, homes for persons with disabilities and women's shelters); and
• inmates of prisons.

DATA AVAILABILITY / DISSEMINATION

The main publication and state/territory data cubes for selected data items can be downloaded free of charge from the ABS website. Additional tailored tables, providing more detail, or data items not included in the publication are available on request as a 'user pays' service.

PUBLICATIONS

Crime Victimisation, Australia 2011–12 (cat. no. 4530.0)
Microdata: Crime Victimisation, Australia 2011–12 (cat. no. 4530.0.55.002)
Crime Victimisation, Australia 2010–11 (cat. no. 4530.0)
Microdata: Crime Victimisation, Australia 2010–11 (cat. no. 4530.0.55.002)
Crime Victimisation, Australia 2009–10 (cat. no. 4530.0)
Microdata: Crime Victimisation, Expanded CURF, Australia, 2009-10 (cat. no. 4530.0.55.002)
Crime Victimisation, Australia 2008–09 (cat. no. 4530.0)

COLLECTION HISTORY

Collection commenced: July 2008–June 2009

Breaks in series: No

Other details:

Outcomes from a review of this collection in 2006-07 have resulted in a major redesign of the ABS national Crime Victimisation Survey. Previously, the ABS conducted a national Crime and Safety Survey on a three-yearly basis; latest results from this survey were published in Crime and Safety, Australia, 2005 (cat. no. 4509.0). The redeveloped Crime Victimisation Survey has resulted in improved methodology, more timely headline indicators about the level of crime victimisation in Australia and flexibility to cater for new and emerging areas of crime. As a result of changes to methodology there is a break in series and data is not comparable to previous data about crime victimisation in the above publication.

OTHER DIRECTORY DATA SOURCES HELD BY THIS AGENCY

National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey
Personal Safety Survey
Women's Safety Survey