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Australian Crime : facts and figures 2003

Recorded crime

This section presents data on recorded crime as published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) for the period 1996 to 2002. Recorded crime is based on counts of victims during the period from 1 January to 31 December each year. A victim can include a person, a premise or a motor vehicle.

Recorded crime statistics are generated annually from police data and are the most consistent data available on crime in Australia. However, a large proportion of crime is not reported to police and so will not be counted in police statistics. An alternative source of information is the ABS National Crime and Safety Survey conducted in 2002, in which over 40,000 Australian residents were interviewed about their experiences of crime. Results of this survey are presented at the end of this chapter.

Crimes known to police

Tables 1a and 1b show the number of victims recorded by police between 1996 and 2002 for the following seven major categories of offences: homicide, assault, sexual assault, robbery, unlawful entry with intent, motor vehicle theft, and other theft. It is estimated that these crimes account for about 60% of all crime recorded by police.

Violent crime

Violent crime comprises homicide, assault, sexual assault and robbery.

Property crime

Property crime comprises unlawful entry with intent, motor vehicle theft and other theft.

Location of crime

The ABS classifies crime locations according to the function of the site where a criminal incident occurred, as follows:

  • residential location (for example, houses, garages/ carports, motels and hostels);
  • community location (for example, car parks, transport facilities, street/footpaths and schools); and
  • other location (for example, retail premises, recreational facilities, government offices and warehousing/storage).

Table 2 lists the number of violent offences (homicide, assault, sexual assault and robbery) that occurred within each type of location. Figure 4 shows the proportion of violent offences by the type of location.

Table 3 lists the number of property offences (unlawful entry with intent, motor vehicle theft and other theft) that occurred within each type of location. Figure 5 shows the proportion of property offences by the type of location.

Fraud and cybercrime

Fraud and deception-related crime

Information about recorded fraud and deception-related crime is not collected by the ABS. This section presents data extracted from information published by state and territory police agencies. The standard classification of fraud and deception-related offences includes cheque and credit card fraud, fraudulent trade practices, social security fraud, forgery, counterfeiting, bribery and other deception offences. Precise definitions may vary by state.

Fraud offences are recorded by the police on a financial year basis.

Cybercrime

As few police agencies are able to identify cybercrimes separately, this section presents the results of the 2003 Australian Computer Crime and Security Survey, conducted by AusCert, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and NSW Police. Over 200 organisations responded to the survey from manufacturing, information technology, federal and state government, utilities, finance, and education/research.

Eighty-eight or 42% of these organisations had experienced a harmful computer security incident in 2002.

Intellectual property crime

The Australasian Film and Visual Security Office reports that the Australian cinema and video industry lost approximately $100 million to piracy in 2002, with an additional $60 million lost to pirated video games. The illegal market in Australia is now estimated to amount to 8% of motion picture sales. The Business Software Alliance's (2003) annual survey of software piracy estimates that the software piracy rate in Australia is 32% (the volume of software pirated as a percent of total software installed) with losses of $138.5 million in 2002.

Source
  • Business Software Alliance 2003, Eighth Annual BSA Global Software Piracy Study: Trends in Software Piracy 1994–2002, BSA, Washington DC.

Victimisation reports

Since the 1970s, most industrialised countries have conducted crime victimisation surveys to estimate the extent of crime and the percentage of crimes reported to the police. These data are used to supplement police statistics.

The ABS conducted national crime victim surveys in 1975, 1983, 1993, 1998 and 2002.

In 2002, information concerning five selected crime types was collected:

  • break-in/attempted break-in
  • motor vehicle theft
  • robbery
  • assault
  • sexual assault

Respondents were asked about experiences with these crimes in the 12 months prior to the survey, whether these crimes were reported to the police, and crime-related risk factors.

Over 40,000 Australian residents 15 years of age and older living in approximately 20,000 households were interviewed for this survey. Results have been weighted to represent the 15 million adults and 7.5 million households in Australia in April 2002. The survey includes those living in private dwellings; it excludes the homeless, those living in institutions or other special accommodation, and excludes crimes against commercial establishments or government agencies. Data are collected using a mail-back questionnaire so requires a certain level of literacy for participation.

Table 5 presents information on the prevalence of victimisation by household and personal crimes across Australia in the 12 months prior to April 2002.

Repeat victimisation

Many victims suffer repeated incidents of crime. Table 6 presents the percentage of selected victims experiencing one or more incidents of victimisation in the 12 months prior to April 2002. Of those who were victimised, a significant proportion was victimised more than once. These figures include only those who were victimised more than once in the same crime category.

Reporting crime to police

It is well known that not all crime is reported to the police, and rates of reporting vary depending on the type of offence. In addition, not all crimes that are reported to the police are recorded by them in official statistics.

Figure 9 shows the percentage of crimes that were reported to the police following the most recent incident.

Perceived problems in the neighbourhood

When asked to identify crime-related problems in the neighbourhood from a list presented to them, survey respondents identified the following most often:

  • household break-ins: 44% in both 2002 and 1998
  • dangerous/noisy driving: 39% in 2002, up from 34% in 1998
  • vandalism and property damage: 27% in 2002, up from 25% in 1998
  • car theft: 25% in 2002, up from 21% in 1998
  • louts/youth gangs: 16% in both years
  • illegal drugs: 13% in 2002, up from 11% in 1998
  • drunkenness: 12% in 2002 and 11% in 1998
  • other theft: 12% in 2002 and 11% in 1998
  • twenty-six per cent said there were no problems in 2002, compared with 27% in 1998
Sources
  • Australian Bureau of Statistics 1999, Crime and Safety, Australia 1998, cat. no. 4509.0, ABS, Canberra.
  • Australian Bureau of Statistics 2003, Crime and Safety, Australia 2002, cat. no. 4509.0, ABS, Canberra.