Latest statistics released by the Crime Statistics Agency show that there has been an upward trend in sexual offences that have been recorded across Victoria in the past five years.
In the year ending 31 December 2016, Victoria Police recorded 12,956 sexual offences across the state, with an offence rate of 214.0 offences per 100,000 people in Victoria. In five years the number of sexual offences has increased by 45.0 per cent, up from 8,936 offences in the year ending 31 December 2012.
Changes to the numbers and rates of sexual offences recorded may in part be affected by increases in reporting of historical incidents of sexual offences, following the establishment of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in 2013.
The Eastern region has had the highest number of sexual offences recorded for the past two years, followed by the North West Metro region. In 2016, the Local Government Areas with the highest number of recorded offences were Melbourne (659), Ballarat (569), Casey (555), Greater Geelong (469) and Latrobe (428).
However, accounting for population figures, the Local Government Areas across Victoria with the highest rate of sexual offences per 100,000 population were Moira (806.0), Campaspe (660.3), Wellington (659.3), Benalla (648.9) and Hindmarsh (618.5).
Of the 12,956 recorded sexual offences, 16.2% (2,095) remained unsolved as at 18 January 2017 when the data was extracted. There were 21.3% (2,754) of offences that resulted in an arrest and 24.3% (3,146) of offences resulted in a summons being issued.
Of the 7,788 victim reports, 79.7% (6,204) involved a female victim while 18.8% (1,467) involved a male victim. The remaining victim reports involved a victim with an unknown sex.
Further information can be found in the latest crime statistics quarterly release, available to download from the CSA website:
http://www.crimestatistics.vic.gov.au/home/crime-statistics/latest-crime-data/