Crimes recorded by police

	Australian Bureau of Statistics
	Australia Now - A Statistical Profile Crime and Justice Crimes recorded by police	Contents Next Topic Previous Topic

In 1997 the number of victims recorded by police rose from the previous year for all the offence categories except attempted murder, manslaughter and sexual assault (table 11.4). Nationally, offences against property (unlawful entry with intent, motor vehicle theft and other theft) were far more common than offences against the person (murder, attempted murder, manslaughter, assault, sexual assault and kidnapping/abduction).

Personal crime
Assault is the most common category of offences recorded against the person. Table 11.4 shows that police recorded 123,940 victims of assault nationally during 1997, representing a victimisation rate of 669 victims per 100,000 persons. There were 14,138 cases of sexual assault recorded, a rate of 76 victims per 100,000 persons, and 322 cases of murder, a rate of 1.7 victims per 100,000 persons. Males had higher recorded assault rates than females across all age groups and were more likely to be victims of murder, whereas females were more likely to be victims of sexual assault and kidnapping/abduction.

Nationally, victimisation rates were generally highest for the 15-19 year age group (table 11.5). This age group had the highest victimisation rates for manslaughter, sexual assault, armed robbery and unarmed robbery. Victims aged 20-24 years had the highest victimisation rates for assault and attempted murder.

Property crime
In 1997, there were 417,845 offences nationally recorded by police as relating to unlawful entry into premises with intent. Of these offences, 328,869 (79%) involved either actual or intended taking of property. A further 88,976 offences (21%) were recorded where the unlawful entry was made with the intention to commit some other form of criminal act, such as assault or property damage.

A total of 130,406 motor vehicles were recorded stolen in Australia during 1997, representing an increase of 6.1% compared with 1996. Other theft includes all recorded theft offences except theft of motor vehicles, and is the largest category of all property offences. A total of 529,345 other theft offences were recorded in 1997, an increase of 1.5% compared with 1996.

11.4 OFFENCES RECORDED BY POLICE, Number and Rate
Offence category		1995	1996	1997
NUMBER
Homicide
	Murder	325	312	322
	Attempted murder	299	335	318
	Manslaughter	31	38	38
	Driving causing death(a)	318	342	n.a.
Assault		101,267	114,156	123,940
Sexual assault		12,962	14,542	14,138
Kidnapping/abduction		467	480	557
Robbery
	Armed robbery	5,255	6,256	9,015
	Unarmed robbery	9,303	10,116	12,246
Blackmail/extortion		155	268	353
Unlawful entry with intent
	Involving the taking of property	303,058	313,902	328,869
	Other	81,850	88,177	88,976
	Total	384,908	402,079	417,845
Motor vehicle theft		126,939	122,914	130,406
Other Theft		490,084	521,762	529,345
RATE PER 100,000 POPULATION
Homicide
	Murder	1.80	1.70	1.74
	Attempted murder	1.66	1.83	1.72
	Manslaughter	0.17	0.21	0.21
	Driving causing death(a)	1.76	1.87	n.a.
Assault		560.72	623.44	668.78
Sexual assault		71.77	79.42	76.29
Kidnapping/abduction		2.59	2.62	3.01
Robbery
	Armed robbery	29.10	34.17	48.64
	Unarmed robbery	51.51	55.25	66.08
Blackmail/extortion		0.86	1.46	1.90
Unlawful entry with intent
	Involving the taking of property	1,678.03	1,714.31	1,774.58
	Other	453.2	481.56	480.11
	Total	2,131.24	2,195.87	2,254.69
Motor vehicle theft		702.86	671.27	703.67
Other theft		2,713.6	2,849.49	2,856.35
(a) Complete counts and rate details for the offence Driving causing death not available for 1997.
Source: Recorded Crime, Australia, 1996 (4510.0); Recorded Crime, Australia, 1997 (4510.0).

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11.5 VICTIMS OF CRIME RECORDED BY POLICE(a), By Age Group (Years) of Victim - 1997
Offence category	0-9	10-14	15-19	20-24	25-34	35-44	45-54	55-64	65+	Total
MALES
Murder	0.82	0.45	2.41	2.58	3.54	2.73	2.40	1.26	1.53	2.21
Attempted murder	0.67	0.15	2.71	5.45	4.79	2.38	1.66	0.88	0.31	2.50
Manslaughter	0.30	-	0.75	0.29	0.56	0.21	0.08	0.25	0.31	0.30
Assault	120.20	659.24	1,523.16	1,590.59	1,327.13	777.69	490.63	282.95	105.24	771.12
Sexual assault	63.99	86.16	57.53	29.68	20.98	8.97	2.57	0.63	0.41	28.13
Kidnapping/abduction	3.81	5.51	5.12	3.73	1.67	0.42	0.25	0.25	-	2.05
Armed robbery(b)	0.60	16.52	89.31	72.25	45.92	34.70	32.55	29.90	11.93	35.59
Unarmed robbery(b)	2.77	86.31	247.74	141.78	84.41	56.08	41.74	36.71	19.27	69.82
Blackmail/Extortion(b)	0.30	0.30	1.66	2.58	2.36	2.73	3.06	2.65	0.92	2.04
FEMALES
Murder	0.24	0.47	1.74	1.48	1.53	1.67	1.53	1.02	0.95	1.26
Attempted murder	0.24	0.31	0.48	2.52	1.25	1.26	0.51	0.89	0.47	0.91
Manslaughter	0.16	-	-	0.44	0.14	0.14	-	-	0.08	0.11
Assault	76.61	396.09	1,153.30	1,221.35	965.48	580.24	305.59	125.09	48.95	522.73
Sexual assault	157.63	341.60	377.30	195.36	120.24	56.43	24.90	8.69	4.43	119.78
Kidnapping/abduction	4.57	12.49	12.05	8.59	2.15	1.39	0.34	0.13	0.24	3.74
Armed robbery(b)	0.87	3.75	26.17	33.47	23.60	21.27	19.72	13.67	5.22	16.83
Unarmed robbery(b)	1.26	18.74	70.42	68.72	54.43	48.27	57.87	50.47	49.75	46.68
Blackmail/Extortion(b)	0.00	0.00	1.90	1.48	1.39	0.91	1.19	0.26	0.32	0.84
PERSONS
Murder	0.54	0.46	2.09	2.04	2.53	2.20	1.97	1.14	1.20	1.74
Attempted murder	0.46	0.23	1.62	4.01	3.06	1.82	1.09	0.89	0.40	1.72
Manslaughter	0.23	-	0.39	0.36	0.35	0.17	0.04	0.13	0.18	0.21
Assault	99.55	531.58	1,348.34	1,416.70	1,150.68	680.96	400.47	205.55	74.03	668.78
Sexual assault	109.90	211.05	214.13	112.04	71.05	32.93	13.67	4.70	2.67	76.29
Kidnapping/abduction	4.18	8.91	8.50	6.12	1.91	0.91	0.29	0.19	0.13	3.01
Armed robbery(b)	0.73	10.29	58.71	53.76	34.97	28.11	26.30	21.96	8.24	27.34
Unarmed robbery(b)	2.03	53.33	161.91	106.80	69.80	52.30	49.79	43.61	36.61	59.77
Blackmail/Extortion(b)	0.31	0.15	1.78	2.04	1.88	1.82	2.14	1.46	0.58	1.47
(a) Rate per 100,000 population. (b) For Robbery and Blackmail/Extortion where the victim can be an organisation, figures shown only include person victims.
Source: National Crime Statistics, 1995 (4510.0); Recorded Crime, Australia, 1996 (4510.0).