The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has recently released their annual publication on victims of crime. Recorded crime - victims, Australia presents statistics on victims of a selected range of offences recorded by state and territory police. Overall the number of recorded victims for most offence categories declined in 2003 from the previous year, with the total number of robbery victims decreasing slightly from 20 989 in 2002 to 19 719 in 2003. Over the ten-year period (1994-2003) the proportion of robberies in which a weapon (including firearm) was used increased from 36 per cent in 1994 to a peak of 46 per cent in 1998, and has since generally declined, dropping back to 36 per cent in 2003. There has also been a gradual decrease in the use of firearms in the commission of a robbery, which has more than halved since 1994 (13% in 1994 compared with 6% in 2003).
Proportion of robbery victims, by use of weapon in commission of offence [see attached PDF for graph]
Source
- Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2004, Recorded crime - victims, Australia, catalogue no. 4510.0, ABS, Canberra