Media Release: Highest offender rates and lowest victim report rates since July 2004

The Crime Statistics Agency has today released the Victorian recorded crime statistics for the year ending 31 March 2019.

In the last 12 months the number of criminal incidents recorded increased by 2.0% or 7,761 incidents to 387,157 incidents. While the rate remained stable at 5,869.9 per 100,000 population, it is the lowest criminal incident rate since the year ending March 2015.

The number of recorded offences increased by 2.6% or 12,825 offences to 515,682 in the last 12 months. The rate per 100,000 population also increased slightly (0.5%) to 7,818.6 per 100,000 population.

Alleged offender incidents recorded by Victoria Police continued to increase in the last 12 months up by 6.9% (11,517 alleged offender incidents) to 178,731. This is a 45.2% increase in the last 10 years and is the highest number in CSA data holdings which go back to July 2004.

In the year ending March 2019 the number of victim reports recorded increased by 0.4% to 299,948. The rate decreased by 1.6% in the last 12 months to 4,547.7 victim reports per 100,000 Victorians, the lowest in CSA data holdings which go back to July 2004.

Family related incidents increased 8.0% in the last 12 months to 81,252 incidents. The family incident rate increased by 5.8% to 1,231.9 incidents per 100,000 population.

Crime Statistics Agency Chief Statistician Fiona Dowsley said that “alleged offender numbers have continued to increase in the last decade and are the highest in CSA data holdings, since July 2004.”

Further information can be found in the latest crime statistics quarterly release, available from the CSA website: http://www.crimestatistics.vic.gov.au/crime-statistics/latest-crime-data/ (External link)

For further information please contact:
Crime Statistics Agency
Phone: 8684 1808
Email: info@crimestatistics.vic.gov.au (External link)