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The ‘shocking and sobering’ rates of sexual offending in Australia
The inaugural Australian Sexual Offence Statistical collection report has been released, detailing the prevalence and nature of sexual offending across the country.
Jerome Doraisamy
The newly released Australian Sexual Offence Statistical (ASOS) collection report from the Australian Institute of Criminology, which brings together data on sexual offences, alleged offenders and victim-survivors from state and territory police sources, shows a harrowing level of sexual offending nationwide.
Over 90 per cent of offenders were male, and offenders had an average age of 36.4 years at their first or only police proceeding for a sexual offence.
Approximately one in three offenders was a non-family member known to the victim (32 per cent), just over one-third were either an intimate partner or another family member of the victim (15 per cent and 19 per cent, respectively), and one in five were a stranger (21 per cent).
The report is the first from the ASOS collection, which was established in 2022 as part of the First Commonwealth Action Plan to Prevent and Respond to Child Sexual Abuse 2021–2024.
In a statement, the Attorney-General’s Department called the statistics “shocking and sobering”.
The statistics, the department went on, “outline the scale of the problem which we must tackle”.
“Every single one of these statistics represents harm and trauma to individuals, their loved ones and the entire community.
“The data in today’s report will be used to inform targeted policy responses that are designed to keep Australians safe from the threat of sexual abuse,” the department said.
“We cannot effectively tackle the scourge of sexual offending in our society if we do not measure it accurately.”
The Albanese government has pledged $3.4 billion to support the National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children 2022–2032 and through measures that address the intersecting domains of prevention, early intervention, responses and supporting recovery and healing.
It has also asked the Australian Law Reform Commission to undertake an inquiry into justice responses to sexual violence to improve the experience of victim-survivors in the justice system.
That report is due early next year.
Jerome Doraisamy
Jerome Doraisamy is the editor of Lawyers Weekly. A former lawyer, he has worked at Momentum Media as a journalist on Lawyers Weekly since February 2018, and has served as editor since March 2022. He is also the host of all five shows under The Lawyers Weekly Podcast Network, and has overseen the brand's audio medium growth from 4,000 downloads per month to over 60,000 downloads per month, making The Lawyers Weekly Show the most popular industry-specific podcast in Australia. Jerome is also the author of The Wellness Doctrines book series, an admitted solicitor in NSW, and a board director of Minds Count.
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