INDIGENOUS VICTIMS OF CRIME
Data about Indigenous victims for a selected range of person offences are presented for three jurisdictions (New South Wales, South Australia, and the Northern Territory). Limited data are available for Queensland on the ABS website. Data for other jurisdictions are not yet of sufficient quality to report on. For more information see Explanatory Notes paragraphs 26-28.
New South Wales
In 2008, there were 79,847 victims of assault in New South Wales; 7% or 5,721 victims were Indigenous. The assault victimisation rate for Indigenous persons was 3,790 victims per 100,000 Indigenous persons. In contrast, the non-Indigenous victimisation rate was 1,029 victims per 100,000 non-Indigenous persons.
Indigenous people comprised 7% (or 467 victims) of the 7,140 victims of sexual assault in New South Wales in 2008. The Indigenous victimisation rate for sexual assault was 309 victims for every 100,000 Indigenous persons. This rate was nearly 3.5 times higher than the non-Indigenous rate (90 victims per 100,000 non-Indigenous persons).
Non-Indigenous people had a higher victimisation rate for robbery than Indigenous people (100 victims per 100,000 non-Indigenous persons compared to 46 victims per 100,000 Indigenous persons).
South Australia
In South Australia, there were 1,633 Indigenous victims of assault, comprising 10% of all victims of assault in this state during 2008. The assault victimisation rate for Indigenous persons was 5,595 victims per 100,000 Indigenous persons, 6 times higher than the non-Indigenous victimisation rate (932 victims per 100,000 non-Indigenous persons).
Northern Territory
In the Northern Territory, there were 5,261 victims of assault in 2008; 59% or 3,110 victims were identified as Indigenous. The assault victimisation rate for Indigenous persons was 4,942 victims per 100,000 Indigenous persons; over 4 times higher than the non-Indigenous rate (1,143 victims per 100,000 persons).
Relationship of offender to victim
In New South Wales, 11% or 612 Indigenous victims of assault reported that the offender was a stranger to them; for non-Indigenous victims of assault 37% or 25,708 victims reported that the offender was a stranger to them.
In South Australia, for the majority of Indigenous assault victims the offender was known to the victim (83% or 1,354 Indigenous victims); whereas 57% or 8,358 non-Indigenous victims of assault reported that the offender was known to them.
In 2008 there were 3,110 Indigenous and 1,795 non-Indigenous victims of assault in the Northern Territory. Over half (56%) of the total Indigenous victims of assault identified a family member as the offender. Partners as offenders were identified by 43% of Indigenous victims. In contrast, 10% of non-Indigenous assault victims identified a family member as their assailant, while 7% identified a partner as the offender.
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