According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics' Recorded crime, victims, Australia annual publication, property crime has undergone dramatic decline in recent years. Property crime is defined as including unlawful entry with intent (UEWI), motor vehicle theft (MVT), and other theft. Other theft includes offences such as pickpocketing, bag snatching, shoplifting and bicycle theft. In the period 1993-2005, the rate per 100,000 population of UEWI has been approximately steady at between 2,100 and 2,320 until 2001. Between 2001 and 2005 the UEWI rate declined by 38 percent, from 2,245 to 1,398 per 100,000. The rate of MVT increased from 637 in 1993 to 721 in 2001, thereafter declining to 397 per 100,000 in 2005 - a decrease of 45 percent. Other theft figures are only available from 1995 onwards. The rate per 100,000 of other theft increased from 2,714 to in 1995 to 3,607 in 2001, when it was at its peak. Since then, it declined by 34 percent, to 2,554 in 2005. This downward trend in property crime in the last four years is also apparent in results from victimisation surveys such as the Australian component of the International Crime Victimisation Survey (Johnson 2005; see CFI 97) and the National Crime and Safety Survey (ABS 2006; see CFI 122).
Trends in property crime, rates per 100,000 population, 1993 – 2005 [see attached PDF for graph]
Source
- Australian Bureau of Statistics 2003-2006. Recorded crime, victims, Australia [various issues]. ABS cat. no. 4510.0. Canberra: ABS
References
- Johnson H 2005. Crime victimisation in Australia: key results of the 2004 International Crime Victimisation Survey. Research and public policy series no. 64. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology
- Australian Bureau of Statistics 2006. Crime and safety, Australia 2005. ABS cat. no. 4509.0. Canberra: ABS