SOURCES OF VICTIMISATION DATA
Recorded Crime
Recorded crime statistics are the result of incidents coming to police attention and a subsequent decision making process carried out by police in accordance with criminal law. As such they are subject to different legislation, rules of operation and procedures in different jurisdictions. A 'differences in recorded crime' project completed by the ABS in 2005 found that differences between jurisdictions in police recording systems, business rules, procedures and legislation can partly explain differences in recorded crime across states and territories for certain offence types, in addition to changes in the incidence of criminal victimisation. This was particularly so for assault. As a result, this publication does not present national statistics for assault, although such data are available for individual states and territories. The implementation of a National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS) has been progressively undertaken by all jurisdictions in recent years to further improve the level of comparability across jurisdictions. Data for 2009 will be the first full year of NCRS implementation for most jurisdictions. The comparability of assault across jurisdictions continues to be problematic and data should not be compared across jurisdictions. For further information about differences across jurisdictions refer to paragraphs 58-135 of the Explanatory Notes.
ABS National Crime Victimisation Surveys
National level information for assault, as well as data for a range of other offences, are available from the ABS National 2008-09 Crime Victimisation Survey (NCVS). The NCVS measures people's perceptions of crime in the community and whether or not the crimes were reported to police. Further detailed information about the survey results can be found in Crime Victimisation, Australia, 2008-09 (cat. no. 4530.0). The survey is now conducted annually.
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