RELATIONSHIP OF OFFENDER TO VICTIM

Relationship of offender to victim data are presented for all states and territories, except for Western Australia for 2009. The quality of the data for offence types varied across jurisdictions, therefore the range of offences reported in the chapter may be limited for some jurisdictions. Data are not published for those with high proportions of unknowns. In some cases the data are not presented due to confidentiality. For more information see paragraphs 30-33 of the Explanatory Notes.


Summary

Across the selected states and territories where data are available, the offender was known to the victim in at least half of all homicide offences. In contrast, for those jurisdictions who were able to report about robbery, the offender was a stranger to the majority of robbery victims. At least half of all sexual assault victims knew their offender.

New South Wales

In 2009, there were 145 victims of homicide in New South Wales. Most victims of homicide knew their offender (78 victims or 53%). Of the 41 (29%) victims of homicide who had familial relationships with the offender, 14 were partners (10%), and 27 were other family members (18%).

Of the 75,928 assaults in New South Wales: 35% of victims identified the offender as a stranger; 33% identified non-family members as the offender; while 29% identified family members as the offender. These proportions are the same as those recorded in 2008. More females than males identified a partner as the offender for assault (16% of female victims, 3% of male victims).

In 2009, there were 7,208 sexual assault victims in New South Wales. Victims of sexual assault knew their offender in 79% of cases (5,726 victims), with 39% having a familial relationship with the offender (2,805 victims). Males and females were similarly likely to identify a family member as the offender for sexual assault (42% of male victims, and 38% of female victims).


Victoria

Of the 28,298 victims of assault recorded in Victoria in 2009, 44% (12,388) reported knowing their offender. More female victims knew their offender than male victims (63% and 31% respectively). However, for sexual assault offences, which totalled 3,354 victims in 2009, a higher proportion of male victims knew their offender than female victims (73% and 66% respectively).


Queensland

In 2009, of the 20,512 victims of assaults recorded in Queensland, more than half (53%) of the victims knew their offender. Victims of assault reported the offender to be a current partner in 7% of cases (1,324 victims). More than two thirds (68%) of female victims of assault knew their offender, while for males it was 44%. For 31% of female assault victims, the offender was a family member, whilst for males the proportion was 9%.

In 2009, there were 4,388 sexual assault victims; most victims knew their offender (71% or 3,096 victims). A family member was the offender in the case of 1,298 victims (30%). Of the 44 kidnapping/abduction victims, most (86%) did not know the offender.


South Australia

In 2009, there were 16,651 victims of assault in South Australia. A quarter (25%) of the victims of assault had a familial relationship with the offender, with 11% (1,873 victims) identifying their partner as the offender. More female victims of assault identified a family member as the offender (43%) than male victims (11%).

Of the total number of victims of sexual assault (1,488 victims), 26% (386 victims) identified a family member as the offender, while 5% (77 victims) identified an ex-partner as the offender. Just over half the victims (54% or 20 victims) of kidnapping/abduction knew the offender; family members were identified as the offender by 16% of victims for this offence type. The vast majority of victims (91% or 958 victims) of robbery did not know their offender.


Tasmania

There were 3,527 victims of assault in Tasmania in 2009. Most victims of assault knew their offender (66% or 2,323 victims); 15% (or 522) of victims identified a partner as their offender, while 9% (323 victims) identified an ex-partner as their offender. The proportion of females who identified a partner as their offender (27%) for assault was much higher than for males (4%).

The vast majority of sexual assault victims knew their offender (80% or 110 victims); 23% (32 victims) identified a family member as the offender. The majority of female and male victims of sexual assault knew their offenders (81% and 77% respectively).


Northern Territory

Of the total number of victims of assault in the Northern Territory (6,265 victims), 70% (4,352) of victims knew the offender, and 44% (2,755) of victims identified a family member as the offender. Partners were identified as the offender by 32% (1,996) of victims, while ex-partners comprised 7% (437) of victims for this offence type.

A large proportion of female victims of assault (46% or 1,781 victims) reported that the offender was their partner.

A higher proportion of male victims (66%) of sexual assault identified the offender as someone they knew compared with female victims (55%).


Australian Capital Territory

In 2009 there were 2,159 victims of assault in the Australian Capital Territory. Just over half (54%) or 1,163 victims of assault knew their offender; 13% (277 victims) identified their partner as the offender. Female victims of assault identified a current partner (26%), or ex-partner (11%) as their offender, whereas most male victims had a higher proportion of strangers as their assailant (43%).

Just over a fifth (22%), or 41 sexual assault victims had a familial relationship with the offender.

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