Motor vehicle theft up 11 per cent in 2022
The number of victims of certain property crimes recorded by police, including motor vehicle theft and burglary, increased for the second year in a row in 2022, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
William Milne, ABS head of crime and justice statistics, said; “Victims of property crimes dropped to a record low in 2020, coinciding with the introduction of COVID-19 restrictions.”
“Over the past two years, the numbers of recorded victims have been coming back up but are still lower than in 2019,” Mr Milne said.
Of the three types of property crime, motor vehicle theft saw the largest proportional increase of 11 per cent (up to 55,037 victims) in 2022. This was followed by burglary up 9 per cent (up to 151,200 victims) and other theft which increased by 8 per cent (up to 475,725 victims). Other theft includes offences like retail theft.
The rise in property crimes in 2022 are notably higher than the increases reported in 2021, which ranged between 1 and 4 per cent.
The number of sexual assaults recorded by police also increased in 2022, up 3 per cent to 32,146 victim-survivors.
“We found that most victim-survivors were female (84% or 26,967 victims). We also found that victim-survivors were most commonly aged between 10 and 17 years when the sexual assault occurred (42% or 13,439 victims),” Mr Milne said.
Further information about sexual assault and a range of other selected offences can be found in Recorded Crime – Victims available as a free download from the ABS website.
If you or anyone you know is in need or crisis please call the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) or Lifeline 131 114.
Grab 1
"So, we found in 2022 reporting of property crimes to police increased for a second year in a row. And this is after reaching historical lows back in 2020."
Grab 2
"Although the numbers of property crimes have increased this year, they are still well below the pre-pandemic levels. So, the sort of property crimes we're talking about here are things like motor vehicle theft, burglary and other theft."
Grab 3
"We found that motor vehicle theft increased by 11% to 55,000 victims in 2022. We also found that most vehicles or 57% were stolen from a driveway, a carport or a garage. But noting that nationally the number of motor vehicle thefts is still below the pre-pandemic levels."
Grab 4
"We found that burglaries increased by 9% to 151,000 victims in 2022 and in 62% of cases property was stolen. However, nationally the number of burglaries is still below the pandemic levels."
Grab 5
"We found that in 2022 other theft increased by 8% to about 476,000 victims. This crime type includes a range of things like theft from a retail outlet. However, nationally the number of other thefts is still below pre-pandemic levels."
Grab 6
"In 2022, the reporting of sexual assaults to police increased by 3% to 32,000 victim-survivors, and this is the highest level recorded since we started publishing these data about 30 years ago."
Grab 7
"So, we found about 84% or 27,000 of these victim-survivors were female. We also found that about 42% were aged between 10 and 17, and over a third of all sexual assaults were domestic violence related."
Grab 8
"In 2022, we found that there were 377 homicides recorded. Of these, we found that one third were domestic violence related, where 84% of these occurred at someone’s home and 53% of these victims were female."
Media notes
- Recorded Crime – Victims presents statistics relating to victims of crime for a selected range of offences as recorded by police.
- A victim for the purposes of this publication is defined by the type of offence committed. This can be a person, premises, an organisation or a motor vehicle.
- Burglary appears as ‘unlawful entry with intent’ in the publication.
- Other theft involves the unlawful taking of money, goods, or services, without the use of force, threat of force or violence, coercion or deception; with the intent to permanently or temporarily deprive the owner or possessor of the money, goods, or services.
- When reporting ABS data you must attribute the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or the ABS) as the source.
- For media requests and interviews, contact the ABS Media Team via media@abs.gov.au (8.30am-5pm Mon-Fri).
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