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http://www.global-sisterhood-network.org/content/view/2969/59/
AUSTRALIA – SEXUAL ASSAULT OFFENDER NUMBERS INCREASED BY 19% in 2013-14
Australian Bureau of Statistics’ report, Recorded
Crime – Offenders, shows 93% of offenders were male.
The charge includes offences such as child sexual
abuse and possessing child sexual abuse material. Photograph: Dave Hunt/AAP
By Melissa Davey and Nick Evershed
24 February 2015 - The number of people charged with
sexual assault offences increased nationally by 19% in 2013-14, new data shows.
The figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics
revealed people aged 10 and over with a principal charge of “sexual assault and
related offences” increased to 7,175 in 2013-14, up from 6,006 the year before.
As a rate per 100,000 people, this is an increase from 30.1 to 35.3
year-on-year.
Of those, 93% were male, the figures published as part
of the Recorded Crime – Offenders report found.
As well as aggravated and non-aggravated sexual
assault, the charge includes offences such as child sexual abuse and possessing
child sexual abuse material.
A spokesman for the men’s family violence prevention
organisation No to Violence, Rodney Vlais, said while it was difficult to say
why there has been such a marked increase, he believed more people may be
coming forward to report the offences.
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“My sense is that the increasing community and public
attention to violence against women occurring across much of Australia might be
resulting in increased reporting of sexual [violence] against women in general,
as well as violence against women in intimate relationships,” he said.
“Of course, reported sexual violence to police is just
the tip of the iceberg, as most assaults go unreported, including sexual
violence that men use against their intimate partners.”
The data also showed the number of youths with a
principal offence of sexual assault and related offences increased from 1,369
in 2012-13 to 1,855 in 2013-14. That represented a jump of 36%.
The director of the National Centre for Crime and
Justice Statistics, William Milne, said this was driven by an increase in
non-assaultive sexual offences of 48%.
“While we did see an increase in the number of youths
reported for sexual assault and related offences, overall there was a 4%
decline in the number of youth offenders,” he said.
There was also an increase in the rate of people
charged with illicit drug offences, which rose from 322 per 100,000 people in
2012-13 to 351.4 in 2013-14. This increase was across all subcategories,
including dealing or trafficking illicit drugs, manufacturing or cultivating
illicit drugs, and possessing and/or using illicit drugs.
The rate of other categories of offences, such as
homicide, property damage, and robbery and extortion have decreased over time.