The Crime Statistics Agency (CSA) released the Victorian recorded crime statistics for the year ending 31 March 2021 today.
The recorded offences rate decreased 1.8% to 7,950.6 per 100,000 Victorians in the last 12 months, as did the number of offences, down 1.8% to 532,271. One in 5 offences recorded were family violence-related (21.1%). Despite overall decreases in criminal offences recorded, family violence-related offences increased 11.3% to 112,432 offences in the year ending 31 March 2021. The increase was particularly driven by breaches of family violence orders (up 18.4% to 53,285 offences) and family violence-related common assaults (up 5.9% to 16,264 offences).
In the 12 months to 31 March 2021 the criminal incident rate decreased 5.0% to 5,792.5 per 100,000 Victorians as did the number of incidents, down 5.1% or 20,630 incidents to 387,793. Of these, 64,402 incidents were family violence-related, up 6.1% from the last year.
Alleged offender incidents increased by 30.6% (48,856 incidents) to 208,294 in the last 12 months, the rate increasing by 30.5% to 3,539.4 per 100,000 Victorians. There were 37,031 alleged offender incidents related to public health (the vast majority were for breaches of CHO directions).
Victim reports decreased by 18.4% to 265,773, the lowest since 2011, as did the victimisation rate, down 15.5% to 2,982.2 reports per 100,000 Victorians. Victims experiencing property and deception-related offences as their most serious offence declined by the greatest number. Conversely, the number of victims of crime experiencing family violence-related offending was the highest ever recorded, driven predominantly by increases in family violence common assault.
Family incidents increased 8.2% in the last 12 months to the highest on record at 92,999 incidents, as did the rate of family incidents, also up by 8.3% to 1,389.1 incidents per 100,000 Victorians. The number of family incidents that resulted in at least one criminal offence increased 6.3% to 46,782 incidents in the last 12 months.
CSA Chief Statistician Fiona Dowsley said that “Victoria has recorded the highest ever number of family incidents and family violence-related criminal offences during this period. The number of family violence-related victim reports has continued to increase, while other types of victim reports decreased over the past 12 months. This increase in family violence-related victimisation has been seen for the last three years, reflecting more than pandemic-related impacts.”
More detailed information is available on the latest crime data webpage.
For further information please contact:
Crime Statistics Agency
Email: info@crimestatistics.vic.gov.au (External link)
^ Please note that movements over time in recorded crime data may be impacted by changes in legislation and operational police practice.