The attrition of reported sexual violence offences is an ongoing issue in Australia, with more than 40 percent of offences being withdrawn by the victim-survivor or labelled by investigators as unfounded. Factors that can influence case outcomes include offence characteristics, police responses to sexual offences, resource availability and system-level barriers. We use a mixed-methods design to evaluate the case, police and system factors that influence withdrawn and unfounded case outcomes for sexual offences in Queensland. We analyse administrative Queensland Police Service data on sexual offences from 2017 to 2022 and outcomes of interviews and focus groups with police and service providers in Queensland. We find that high demand, limited capacity and increased sexual offence severity are increasing withdrawn and unfounded outcomes. Specialist sexual offence trained investigators and referrals to external services are the most consistent protective factors against withdrawn and unfounded case outcomes.
Content warning
Reader discretion is advised. The aim of this research is to further contribute to the body of empirical evidence to inform and improve responses to victim-survivors of sexual violence nationally and internationally. In this report, we draw on official administrative crime data and qualitative interviews and focus groups with police investigators, health and support service providers to understand factors associated with withdrawal and unfounding of sexual violence cases. Behind every number and statistic, there is a victim-survivor with a lived and personal experience of sexual violence and the justice system.
Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Conflicts of interest
- Acronyms and abbreviations
- Terminology
- Abstract
- Content warning
- Executive summary
- Key findings
- Introduction
- Case attrition
- Case withdrawal and unfounding
- Factors that influence case attrition
- System-level factors
- Aim and method
- Administrative data
- Qualitative data
- Data limitations and considerations
- Structure of findings
- Results: Part 1 — Official police data
- Sexual offence incidents and outcomes
- Victim-survivors and outcomes
- Summary
- Resourcing and availability
- Results: Part 2 — Qualitative data
- Police capacity and capability
- Equipping police
- System-level factors
- Discussion
- Recommendations
- References
- Appendix A: Data dictionary
- Appendix B: Data analysis
- Multinomial regression
- Chi-squared tests
- Descriptive statistics
- Appendix C: National Offence Index ranking of sexual offences
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