Family, domestic and sexual violence in Australia: continuing the national story 2019

Purpose/description

ABS Recorded Crime – Offenders presents statistics about the characteristics of alleged offenders who were proceeded against by police during a 12-month reference period. The collection provides a profile of alleged offenders, including their age, sex, Indigenous status, principal offence, how often they have been proceeded against by police within the reference period, as well as a count of proceedings that may result in court or non-court actions.

Scope and coverage

The scope of the collection includes all offenders, aged 10 years and over, who have been proceeded against by police during the reference period. Persons under the age of 10 are excluded from the collection as the minimum age of criminal responsibility in all Australian states and territories is 10 years.

The scope also excludes the following:

• organisations
• offences that come under the authority of agencies other than state and territory police, such as Environmental Protection Authorities
• proceedings initiated by the Australian Federal Police.

Due to quality and/or comparability issues, or an inability to supply data to the ABS, the statistics presented in this collection exclude the following:

• traffic offence information specifically related to ANZSOC Division 14 Traffic and vehicle regulatory offences and Subdivision 041 Dangerous or negligent operation of a vehicle
• ANZSOC Group 1523 Breach of bail
• Indigenous status data for offenders in Victoria, Western Australia and Tasmania
• number of times proceeded against data and police proceedings data for Western Australia (refer to note 68)
• method of proceeding data for the Northern Territory.

Experimental family and domestic violence (FDV) statistics present experimental data on offenders of family and domestic violence-related offences, as recorded by police. Data about offenders of FDV-related offences is only presented for New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia, Tasmania, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory. Offences were determined to be family and domestic violence-related based on an FDV flag that varies across jurisdictions based on relevant state and territory legislation, or identified as being within a specified family or domestic relationship.

FDSV definitions

A family and domestic violence-related offence is defined as an offence involving at least two persons who are in a specified family or domestic relationship and which has been determined by police officers to be family and/or domestic violence-related as part of their investigation. Family and domestic violence-related offences are limited to: homicide and related offences, acts intended to cause injury, sexual assault and related offences, abduction, harassment and other offences against the person, property damage and breach of violence and non‑violence orders.

For more information, please visit the Recorded Crime – Offenders, 2017–18, cat. no. 4519.0.