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Australian Crime : facts and figures 2003

Selected crime profiles

Homicide

The definition of homicide used by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is the unlawful killing of another person. Homicide statistics discussed here include the following categories of offences:

  • murder : the wilful killing of a person either intentionally or with reckless indifference to life; and
  • manslaughter : the unlawful killing of a person caused:
    • without intent to kill, usually as a result of a careless, reckless or negligent act; or
    • intentionally, but due to extreme provocation; or
    • when in a state of mind that impairs the capacity to understand or control one's actions.

Data from the ABS are supplemented with more detailed information collected by the Australian Institute of Criminology through the National Homicide Monitoring Program.

  • There were 363 homicides in Australia in 2002, with two victims per 100,000 population. This represents an increase of 7% over the 340 homicides in 2001.
  • Murder accounted for 88% of the victims recorded in 2002. The remainder were victims of manslaughter.

Source:

  • Australian Bureau of Statistics 2003, Recorded crime : victims, Australia 2002, cat. no. 4510.0, ABS, Canberra.

Location of homicides

Victims of homicide

Victim-offender relationship

Trend in homicide

Trend in firearm homicides

Assault

The ABS defines assault as the direct infliction of force, injury or violence upon a person, including attempts or threats.

  • In 2002 there were 159,548 assaults recorded by the police, at a rate of 811 per 100,000 population, an increase of 3% over the rate recorded in 2001.

Sources:

  • Australian Bureau of Statistics 2003, Recorded crime : victims, Australia 2002, cat. no. 4510.0, ABS, Canberra.
  • Australian Bureau of Statistics 2003, Population by age and sex : Australian states and territories 1997 to 2002, cat. no. 3201.0, ABS, Canberra.

Location of assaults

Victims of assault

Victim-offender relationship

Trend in assault

Sexual assault

The ABS definition of sexual assault is a physical assault of a sexual nature, directed toward another person where that person:

  • does not give consent; or
  • gives consent as a result of intimidation or fraud; or
  • is legally deemed incapable of giving consent because of youth or temporary/permanent incapacity.

Sexual assault includes: rape, sexual assault, sodomy, buggery, oral sex, incest, carnal knowledge, unlawful sexual intercourse, indecent assault, and assault with intent to rape.

  • There were 17,850 victims of sexual assault recorded by the police in Australia in 2002, an increase of 6% from 2001.
  • There were about 91 victims of sexual assault per 100,000 population, 145 per 100,000 females and 33 per 100,000 males.

Source:

  • Australian Bureau of Statistics 2003, Recorded crime : victims, Australia 2002, cat. no. 4510.0, ABS, Canberra.

Location of sexual assaults

Victims of sexual assault

  • Eighty per cent of sexual assault victims were female.
  • In 2002 the number of male victims of sexual assault increased by 17% while the number of female victims increased by 6% relative to 2001.

Source:

  • Australian Bureau of Statistics 2003, Recorded crime : victims, Australia 2002, cat. no. 4510.0, ABS, Canberra.

Victim-offender relationship

Trend in sexual assault

Robbery

Robbery, as defined by the ABS, is the unlawful taking of property, without consent, accompanied by force or threat of force. Robbery victims can be persons or organisations.

Types of robbery

Robbery is divided into the following two categories of offences.

  • Armed robbery: This is robbery conducted with use of a weapon. A weapon is any object used to cause fear or injury. It also includes imitation weapons and implied weapons; for example, where a weapon is not seen by the victim but the offender claims to possess one.
  • Unarmed robbery: This is robbery conducted without the use of a weapon.

Trend in robbery

Armed robbery

  • There were 7,817 armed robberies recorded during 2002. This represents a 29% decrease compared with 2001.

Source:

  • Australian Bureau of Statistics 2003, Recorded crime : victims, Australia 2002, cat. no. 4510.0, ABS, Canberra.

Unarmed robbery

  • There were 13,144 unarmed robberies recorded during 2002. This represents a 14% decrease from the number in 2001.

Source:

  • Australian Bureau of Statistics 2003, Recorded crime : victims, Australia 2002, cat. no. 4510.0, ABS, Canberra.

Unlawful entry with intent

Unlawful entry with intent (UEWI) is defined by the ABS as the unlawful entry of a structure with the intent to commit an offence. UEWI offences include burglary, break and enter, and some stealing.

Types of unlawful entry with intent

UEWI is divided into the following two categories of offences.

  • UEWI - property: This is UEWI where property is taken from a structure.
  • UEWI - other: This is UEWI where no property is taken from a structure.
  • In 2002 there were 394,374 incidents of UEWI recorded by the police in Australia, a 9% decrease over the number recorded in 2001.
  • The rate of UEWI decreased from 2,245 victims per 100,000 population in 2001 to 2,006 victims per 100,000 in 2002.
  • The rate of unlawful entry at residential locations decreased from 3,798 per 100,000 households in 2001 to 3,080 per 100,000 households in 2002.

Source:

  • Australian Bureau of Statistics 2003, Recorded crime : victims, Australia 2002, cat. no. 4510.0, ABS, Canberra.
  • Australian Bureau of Statistics 2003, Population by age and sex : Australian states and territories 1997 to 2002, cat. no. 3201.0, ABS, Canberra.

Location of unlawful entry with intent

Trend in unlawful entry with intent

Motor vehicle theft

Motor vehicle theft is the taking of a motor vehicle unlawfully or without permission. It excludes damaging and tampering or interfering with motor vehicles. The theft of motor vehicle parts or contents is included under the offence category 'other theft'. The term 'motor vehicle' refers to cars, motorcycles, campervans and trucks.

  • There were 113,389 motor vehicles reported stolen to police in 2002, with 884 vehicles stolen per 100,000 registered cars. This represents a 19% decrease on the number recorded in 2001.
  • Motor vehicle thefts averaged one every five minutes across Australia in 2002.
  • One motor vehicle was stolen in 2002 for every 113 registered vehicles.

Source:

  • Australian Bureau of Statistics 2003, Recorded crime : victims, Australia 2002, cat. no. 4510.0, ABS, Canberra.
  • Australian Bureau of Statistics 2002, Motor vehicle census, Australia, cat. no. 9309.0, ABS, Canberra.

Location of motor vehicle theft

Trend in motor vehicle theft

Recovery rates

This section presents data on recovery rates of stolen vehicles from the National CARS (Comprehensive Auto-theft Research System) Project.

  • A total of 87,011 stolen cars were recovered in 2002, resulting in a national recovery rate of 80%.
  • Forty-one per cent of all recovered motor vehicles are recovered after one day, 67% after two days and 82% after one week.

Source:

Other theft

The ABS defines other theft (stealing) as the taking of another person's property with the intention of permanently depriving the owner of the property illegally and without permission, but without force, threat of force, use of coercive measures, deceit or having gained unlawful entry to any structure even if the intent was to commit theft.

This offence includes such crimes as pickpocketing, bag snatching, stealing, theft from a motor vehicle, theft of motor vehicle parts/accessories/petrol, stealing of stock/domestic animals, and theft of non-motorised vehicles/boats/aircraft/bicycles. It is the largest of all the crime categories included in the national statistics.

  • A total of 679,460 victims of other theft were recorded by the police in 2002, with 3,448 victims per 100,000 persons. This represents a 3% decrease from the number recorded in 2001.

Source:

  • Australian Bureau of Statistics 2003, Recorded crime : victims, Australia 2002, cat. no. 4510.0, ABS, Canberra.

Location of other theft

Trend in other theft