Australian crime : facts and figures 2005

• ISBN 0 642 53897 2; ISSN 1832-228X
• Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, 2006

• Section: Recorded crime (PDF 90kB)
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Recorded crime

Data on recorded crime as published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) for the period 1996 to 2004 are presented in this first section. Recorded crime is based on crimes reported to or detected by police during the period from 1 January to 31 December each year. A victim can include a person, premises or a motor vehicle.

The ABS has been collecting and publishing data on eight major categories of offences - homicide, assault, sexual assault, robbery, kidnapping, unlawful entry with intent (UEWI), motor vehicle theft (MVT), and other theft - since 1996. It is estimated that these crimes account for about 60% of all crime recorded by police.

The ABS did not report on assault or sexual assault for 2004. They have found that the recording of assault has not been consistent across jurisdictions, although the trend within jurisdictions should be consistent. We therefore assume that the national trend is consistent but that the absolute number may not be accurate. Because assault accounts for the vast majority of recorded violent crime and sexual assault is also a significant crime category they are included from 1996 to 2003 in some of the following tables and figures. However readers should exercise caution in how they interpret the numbers.

Source: Reference 1 and 28

Number of recorded crimes

Violent crime

Violent crime includes homicide, assault, sexual assault, robbery and kidnapping (also sometimes referred to as abduction). Although robbery may include an element of property crime, it is included as a violent crime, as the use or threat of violence is a more serious offence.

Table 1 : Violent crimes, 1996-2004

	Homicide	Assault	Sexual assault	Robbery	Kidnapping
1996	354	114,156	14,542	16,372	478
1997	364	124,500	14,353	21,305	564
1998	332	130,903	14,336	23,801	707
1999	386	134,271	14,104	22,606	766
2000	363	138,708	15,759	23,336	695
2001	346	152,283	16,897	26,591	767
2002	365	160,118	17,977	20,989	706
2003	341	158,629	18,237	19,709	696
2004	293	na	na	16,490	768
na = not available.

• The number of homicides has usually fluctuated between 340 and 390. In 2004 the number dropped below 300 to 293.
• Robbery is the second largest violent crime category. The number of robbery offences in 2004 was the lowest recorded since 1996. Robbery offences have been in decline since 2001.
• The number of recorded kidnappings is small and subject to year to year variation. Over the period 1996-2004 kidnapping registered a slight upward trend. There were 768 recorded victims of kidnapping in 2004.
• The trend in recorded sexual assaults has shown an increase over the period 1996-2003.
• Assaults have consistently made up the vast majority of recorded violent crimes. The overall trend has been upward in the period 1996-2003.

Source: Reference 1

Property crime

Property crime comprises unlawful entry with intent (UEWI), also referred to as break and enter or burglary, motor vehicle theft (MVT), and other theft. Other theft includes offences such as pick-pocketing, bag snatching, shoplifting and bicycle theft.

Table 2 : Property crimes, 1996-2004

	UEWI	MVT	Other theft
1996	402,079	122,914	521,762
1997	421,569	130,138	530,881
1998	434,376	131,587	563,482
1999	415,735	129,552	612,559
2000	436,968	138,912	681,268
2001	435,754	139,894	700,137
2002	394,323	113,460	680,799
2003	354,020	98,298	624,036
2004	308,368	87,916	547,800

• In 2004, other theft was the most commonly recorded property crime, accounting for 58% of property crime victims. The number of recorded victims of other theft increased steadily until 2001, but since then has been decreasing.
• Between 1996 and 2004, the number of victims of UEWI increased until 2000, but has since declined by 29%. In 2004 there were 308,368 recorded victims of an UEWI.
• The number of MVT victims increased by 24% between 1996 and 2001; between 2001 and 2004, however, it declined by 37%. In 2004 there were 87,916 recorded victims of a MVT.

Source: Reference 1

• Among the offence categories displayed on the chart the overall trend in the past three years has been one of decline.
• Of offences for which data were released, only kidnapping registered an increase between 2003 and 2004.
• Homicide (14%), robbery (16%), UEWI (13%), MVT (11%) and other theft (12%) all recorded decreases from 2003 to 2004.

Source: Reference 1

Recorded crime rates

Trends in the number of recorded crimes do not take into account increases in the population over time. As a result an increasing number of recorded crime victims may reflect an increase in the general population over that time period rather than the actual likelihood of a person becoming a victim of crime. Crime rates adjust for changes in the population size and in this section are calculated for every 100,000 persons in the population.

Violent crime rate

• The rate for robbery peaked at 137 per 100,000 in 2001, the highest recorded since 1996. Rates have declined since 2001 by 40% to 82 per 100,000 in 2004.
• The rate of kidnapping was subject to substantial year to year fluctuation between 1996 and 2004. In 2004 it stood at 3.8 per 100,000 persons.
• The homicide rate was 1.9 in 1996 and was at its highest in 1999 at 2.0 per 100,000 before dropping to 1.5 in 2004.
• The trend in the rate of recorded assault has shown a steady increase from 1996 to 2003.
• The trend in the rate of recorded sexual assault has displayed a steady and significant increase between 1996 and 2003.

Source: References 1 and 2

Property crime rate

• The rate of other theft, which is the largest category of recorded property crime, increased between 1996 and 2001, and has declined thereafter.
• The rate of UEWI remained relatively stable from 1996 to 2001. Since then it has declined.
• The rate of MVT declined by 35% between 1996 and 2004, from 671 to 437 per 100,000 population. This decline largely occurred from 2001 onwards.

Source: References 1 and 2

Location of crime

The ABS classifies crime locations according to the function of the site where a criminal incident occurred. There are three broad locations:

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

Table 3 lists the number of selected violent offences that occurred within each type of location.

Table 3 : Number of violent crimes by type of location, 2004

	Homicide	Robbery	Kidnapping
Residential
Private dwelling	149	1,121	168
Other residential (a)	13	85	8
Total residential	162	1,206	176
Community
Transport	8	1,634	45
Street/footpath	26	6,793	346
Other community	29	1,025	92
Total community	63	9,452	483
Other
Retail	11	3,958	45
Recreational	4	1,012	31
Other location	8	416	7
Unspecified	9	446	26
Total other	32	5,832	109
Total	257	16,490	768
(a) Includes non-private dwellings, dwellings not further defined, and land and other structures (for example, driveways) that lie within the curtilage of a residential location.

• The majority of homicides (63%, n=162) occur in a residential location, while most robberies (93%, n=15,369) occur outside the home.
• In 2004, 41% (n=6793) of robberies and 45% (n=346) of kidnappings occurred on streets or footpaths, compared with 10% (n=26) of homicides.
• According to data released in previous years assault was likely to occur in both community and residential locations, while sexual assault was overwhelmingly likely to occur in residential locations.

Source: Reference 1

• Between 2000 and 2004, violent crimes (homicide, robbery and kidnapping) declined in all categories of location, though the decrease was not uniform across all location types.
• Violent crimes carried out at transport and retail locations declined the most, by 31% and 36%, respectively.
• Violent crimes carried out at residential dwellings, the street/footpath and recreational locations decreased by 11%, 17% and 25%, respectively, between 2000 and 2004.

Table 4 lists the number of property offences (UEWI, MVT and other theft) that occurred within each type of location.

Table 4 : Number of property crimes by type of location, 2004

	UEWI	MVT	Other theft
Residential
Private dwelling	182,967	-	64,846
Other residential (a)	18,386	23,251	67,022
Total residential	201,353	23,251	131,868
Community
Transport	1,102	12,122	52,442
Street/footpath	-	33,059	86,423
Other community	21,411	2,163	35,256
Total community	22,513	47,344	174,121
Other
Retail	37,551	9,194	151,453
Recreational	7,279	1,193	29,497
Other location	30,132	2,224	30,543
Unspecified	9,540	4,067	23,282
Total other	84,502	17,321	241,811
Total	308,368	87,916	547,800
(a) Includes non-private dwellings, dwellings not further defined, and land and other structures (for example, driveways) that lie within the curtilage of a residential location.

• Motor vehicle thefts were more likely to occur in a public location (66%, n=58,374) than in or around a residential location (26%, n=23,251).
• The majority of unlawful entry with intent crimes (65%, n=201,353) occurred in a residential location, and 12% (n=37,551) occurred in a retail location.
• 32% (n=174,121) of other thefts occurred in a community location and 28% (n=151,453) in a retail location.

Source: Reference 1

• Property offences were most likely to occur at a private dwelling (26%), at a retail location (21%) or on the street/footpath (13%).
• Property offences were comparatively less likely to occur at recreational locations (4%) and on transport (7%).

Source: Reference 1

• Between 2000 and 2004, the number of property crimes carried out on transport, on the street/footpath, or in a recreational location declined the most, by 30%, 31% and 43%, respectively.
• Property crimes at residential locations declined by 22%, and at retail locations by 14% between 2000 and 2004.

Source: Reference 1

Facts and figures 2005

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Contents

• Foreword
• Crime and justice statistics
• 1. Recorded crime
• 2. Selected crime profiles
• 3. Crime victimisation
• 4. Selected offender profiles
• 5. Criminal courts
• 6. Corrections
• 7. Criminal justice resources
• References