Crime victimisation

Section contents

Household and personal victimisation
Personal fraud

The majority of industrialised countries conduct crime victimisation surveys to estimate the extent of certain crimes and the percentage reported to the police. These data are used to supplement police statistics and are particularly useful for examining crimes that have low percentages of reporting to police, such as sexual assault.

In Australia, there are various sources of crime victimisation data. The ABS conducts a national Crime and Safety survey on a regular basis, the most recently released data being from the 2005 survey. In addition, in 2005, the ABS conducted a Personal Safety survey that focused on men's and women's experiences of physical and sexual assault.

The method developed for crime victimisation surveys has been extended to address crimes of specific interest. One example used here is the 2007 ABS Personal Fraud module, which measures rates of victimisation through various types of personal fraud, including credit card fraud, identity fraud, and scams.

Source: References 17–19

Household and personal victimisation

The ABS crime and safety survey distinguishes between household and personal crime. Household crimes include those crimes in which the household (a group of persons resident in a private dwelling and sharing common facilities) is considered the victim of the crime. This includes home break-in, attempted break-in, and motor vehicle theft. Personal crimes are those of which the individual is considered the victim. They include robbery, assault, and sexual assault.

Source: Reference 17

Figure 37 Households experiencing household crime in the 12 months preceding 2005 survey, by crime type (percent)

Note: The scale for this chart is different from that of other charts as the percentages involved are relatively small

In 2005, six percent of households surveyed had been victims of household crime in the preceding 12 months.
Break-in was the most common household crime reported (3%); MVT, the least common (1%).

Source: Reference 17

Figure 38 Persons aged 15 years or more experiencing personal crime in the 12 months preceding 2005 survey, by crime type (percent)

Note: The scale for this chart is different from that of other charts as the percentages involved are relatively small

Five percent of persons surveyed reported an experience of personal crime in the preceding 12 months.
Most victims of a personal crime had experienced an assault (5% of all persons surveyed). Fewer than one percent of respondents had been the victim of a robbery or sexual assault.

Source: Reference 17

Figure 39 Experience of selected crimes in the 12 months preceding 2005 survey, by crime type (percent victims of that crime type)

Of persons assaulted in the 12 months preceding the survey, 48 percent had experienced one incident of assault; 19 percent, two incidents; and 33 percent, three or more incidents.
Sixty-eight percent of victims of robbery had experienced one incident of robbery; 19 percent, two incidents; and 14 percent, three or more incidents.
The majority (80%) of victims of house break-ins reported just one incident of break-in in the previous two months.

Source: Reference 17

Figure 40 Adults experiencing assault or sexual assault in 12 months preceding survey and since age of 15 (percent)

In the 12 months prior to the survey, seven percent of men experienced assault and less than one percent experienced sexual assault. Among women, three percent experienced assault and one percent experienced sexual assault.
Forty-one percent of men reported having experienced an assault, and five percent had experienced sexual assault, since the age of 15.
Twenty-nine percent of women had experienced assault, and 17 percent had experienced sexual assault, since the age of 15.
Almost half (46%) of men and women reported having experienced an assault and/or sexual assault since the age of 15.

Source: Reference 18

Reporting crime to the police

Victimisation surveys are useful for assessing the extent of crime that is not reported to the police. Surveys find a wide variation in reporting, depending on the type of crime. Figure 41 shows the estimated reporting percentages of categories of offence reported in the 2005 Crime and Safety survey (Reference 17).

Figure 41 Rate of reporting to police of selected crimes in 2005 (percent)

Motor vehicle thefts (90%), followed by home break-ins (74%), were reported more often to police than other major categories of crime.
Robbery (39%), attempted break-in (31%), and assault (31%) were less likely to be reported by victims to the police.

Source: Reference 17

Personal fraud

The ABS Personal Fraud module provides an estimate of the number of Australians exposed to scams or attempts at personal fraud, the proportion falling victim to them, and the financial losses incurred. Respondents to the survey were interviewed about their experience of personal fraud, specifically incidents of:

credit card fraud (i.e. the unauthorised use of a credit or bank card)
identity theft (i.e. the theft and fraudulent use of personal details or personal documents)
scams (i.e. a fraudulent invitation, request or offer whereby a person's personal information and/or money is obtained using deceptive means).

An estimated 806,000 Australians aged 15 or more were the victim of one or more incidents of personal fraud in the 12 months preceding the survey interview.

Figure 42 Victims of personal fraud in 2007, by sex and fraud type (percent of that sex)

a: Includes lotteries, pyramid schemes, phishing, financial advice, chain letters, advance-fee fraud and other

Note: The scale for this chart is different from that of other charts, as the percentages involved are relatively small

Males and females aged 15 or more had experienced similar rates of victimisation from personal fraud in the previous 12 months.
Three percent of males and two percent of females reported being the victim of at least one incident of credit card fraud; two percent each, of scams; and one percent each, of identity theft.

Source: Reference 19