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Assault victim-offender relationship statistics

Assault victims, relationship to offender, 2003 (percent)a

a: Excludes Queensland and Western Australia (information not available). Also excludes the 9% of instances where the relationship between victim and offender was not stated or not known in the remaining jurisdictions

b: Known other includes known non-family and known but not further defined, which may include some family members

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics 1997-2007. Recorded crime, victims, Australia (various years; title varies). ABS cat. no. 4510.0. Canberra: ABS

  • Where the relationship between victim and offender was stated, 81% of female victims of assault knew the offender, compared with 49% of male victims.
  • Assaults against females were more than twice as likely to be perpetrated by a family member as those against males.
  • Male victims were much more likely to have been assaulted by a stranger (51%) than female victims (19%).