NCJ Number
166242
Journal
Criminal Justice Commission Research Paper Series Volume: 4 Issue: 1 Dated: (April 1997) Pages: complete issue
Date Published
1997
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This paper examines assault trends over time in Queensland, Australia, analyzes factors that increase or decrease the risk of assault, and describes the context in which assaults are most likely to occur.
Abstract
In 1995-1996, the police recorded 17,397 assaults in Queensland, excluding sexual assaults. This figure represented 1 assault for every 193 people. About 58 percent of the assaults were classified as serious, meaning the incident resulted in injury or interfered with the victim's health or comfort. In the 1995 Queensland Crime and Safety Survey, 3.2 percent of respondents said they had been assaulted at least once in the previous year. Between July 1977 and June 1996, the number of assaults recorded annually by the police increased by 381 percent. In 1994-1995, 3,666 and 1,257 inpatient separations related to assault injuries were recorded for adult males and females, respectively. Women over 25 years of age accounted for a disproportionate share of adult violence. The risk of being victimized by assault was related to age, gender, marital status, labor force status, and ethnic group. People who went out frequently and who went to particular places were more likely to be assaulted than people who did not. Some victims were assaulted more than once over a 12-month period. In 1995, 6 percent of recorded minor assaults and 18 percent of serious assaults involved a weapon. About 42 percent of actual and threatened assaults were committed by strangers, and assaults most commonly occurred in the streets. About two-thirds of assaults occurred after dark, and about one-third of assaults took place in semipublic places such as shopping centers, sporting facilities, commercial establishments, workplaces, and schools. In 1995, the police reported clearing 63 percent of minor assaults and 64 percent of serious assaults. The authors conclude police crime statistics considerably overstate the extent to which assault in Queensland has increased in the past decade, the level of domestic violence against women is higher, some groups are at greater risk of assault than others (young people, males, single people, the unemployed, and indigenous people). 14 references, 4 tables, and 10 figures