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AUSTRALIA-SEXUAL-RECORD
Sexual assaults in Australia reach 8-year high: gov’t figures
CANBERRA, June 29, 2018 (BSS/XINHUA) – The total number of recorded sexual
assault victims in Australia reached an eight-year high in 2017, according to
government data.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released its annual figures on
Thursday evening which showed the number of sexual assault incidents in 2017
increased by 8 percent from the previous year, bringing the total to its
highest since 2010.
According to the data, four in five of the sexual assault victims were
female, 82 percent of the 20,556 recorded assaults.
“This is the sixth consecutive annual increase in the number of victims
recorded for this offence and the highest number recorded since the time
series began in 2010,” ABS Director of Crime and Justice Statistics William
Milne said in a statement on Thursday.
“Recording of female victims of sexual assault increased by 9 percent
since last year which was also the largest annual increase since 2010.”
Last year saw 8,409 victims of family and domestic violence-related sexual
assault, which equated to around a third of all victims across the nation
over the same period.
The highest increase in sexual assault victims occurred in Victoria (13
percent), followed by New South Wales (12 percent) and Queensland (9
percent).
Western Australia had the biggest decrease in the number of sexual
assaults with 12 percent, closely followed by Tasmania (down 10 percent) and
the Australian Capital Territory (down 9 percent).
While sexual assaults in Australia were at an eight-year high, the
government data showed a decrease in crimes such as homicide, robbery and
burglary since 2010.
Total murders or attempted murders across the country were down 10 percent
to 414 victims, robbery was down 34 percent — a total of 9,599 recorded by
the police — and there were 176,153 incidents of burglary last year, a 15
percent decrease since 2010.
BSS/XINHUA/GMR/1132 hrs