DEVELOPMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN CRIME VICTIMISATION SURVEYS

Types of Surveys  National Crime and Safety Survey (3 yearly )  Personal Safety Survey (Violence) (irregular 2005)  General Social Survey (irregular )  National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Survey (irregular)  National Survey of Community Satisfaction of Policing (Qtrly)  ICVS (irregular)  IVAWS (irregular)

 Collects information from households and individuals about experience of selected crimes, reporting behaviour to police and crime related risk factors  Robbery (break in, attempted break ins)  Theft of Motor Vehicles  Assault  Sexual Assault  Fear of crime  Neighbourhood crime problems Crime and Safety Survey Offences

Crime and Safety Survey: Content  What problems from crime/public nuisance are there in neighbourhood?  How safe/unsafe do you feel at home by yourself during the day?  safe/unsafe at home by yourself after dark?  Did an offence occur?  How many times?  When/where did the most recent offence occur?  Weapon Used?

 Physically injured?  Saw the offender?  How many offenders?  Age/sex of offender?  Did you know the offender?  Location of offence?  Reactions of incident by victim?  Force/violence used?  Attempt to try to use/threaten to use violence against victim Content continued

 Time of day/day of week  Did you tell police about most offence?  Reason police not told?  How reported to police - in person, phone, etc  What did the offenders do?  Do you consider this to be a crime? Content continued

 Runs off the labour force survey  54,000 persons  27,000 households  76% response rate (2002 survey)  1 person for household crimes  all persons aged 15+ for personal crimes  all persons aged 18+ for sexual assault Survey Sample

 Strong demand for crime and safety survey data in Australia  Users have asked ABS to consider options to improve survey methods and adopt a more integrated approach to crime and safety surveys  Main issues for users are:  Freqency - broad annual headline indicators of crime  responsiveness - need to handle new and emerging areas of crime  Flexibility - accommodate core and optional modules to respond to emerging issues  Geography - small area data Crime Statistics Survey Review

Survey Review Findings  Current content of NCSS appears to be satisfactory  Sexual Assault and Family Violence flagged as key policy priority areas by government  Need to maintain time series  Flexibility  Incorporate new and emerging areas of crime  State/territory data as a minimum  Need for broad annual headline indicators of crime

Demand for new and emerging crimes  New and emerging content  Business victimisation (including e-crime)  Internet scams  Fraud (consumer, identity and superannuation fraud)  Other deception offences  Vandalism  Theft from Motor Vehicles

 Theft of mobile phones  Juvenile crime  Racially based assault  Risk factors to victimsation  more information about demographics of victims and offenders, relationship of victim to offender and location  more information on high risk population groups (indigenous, recent immigrants, people with mental illnesses, prisoners, homeless, etc)  model crime and safety data with other survey data or administrative data (e.g. police data) new and emerging crimes continued

 Self reported crimes  interest in knowing about self reported crimes by offenders  similar to questions asked in our Indigenous survey  Indigenous statistics  Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population  Indigenous people account for a small part of the population but per head of population have higher imprisonment rates, etc

Frequency  Annual headline indicators of crime  Indicators would help them to develop, implement and measure new policies and programs around fear of crime in the community and reduction in crime  Implement strategies for downstream effects on criminal justice system (courts and prisons)  Indicators would include a limited set of household and personal crimes, basic demographic data, perceptions of crime and safety, reporting to police  Police agencies have an interest in indicators to assist in operational policing strategies  Detailed characteristics to be collected less frequently

Where to from here with the review?  Further consultation with users to further understand specific user need  User needs will be factored into the ABS Household Survey Review Program to determine priorities for our future social statistics program (conducted during 2006)  Crime statistics will compete with other social statistics demands