The number of sexual assault offenders recorded by Australian police jumped 13 per cent in the decade to 2020, and 97 per cent of those charged were men, new statistics show.
More than 53,000 sexual offenders were recorded between 2010-11 and 2019-20 and, accounting for population growth, the male sex offender rate increased from 46 per 100,000 men to 52 per 100,000.
More than half of offenders charged with sexual assault in the last decade committed crimes serious enough to be heard in higher courts, such as the County and Supreme courts.Credit:Greg Newington
New analysis of crime data by the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed the crimes of more than half the offenders (53 per cent) were serious enough to require hearing in higher courts – such as the County or Supreme courts – and of 46,131 completed cases, more 77 per cent were found guilty.
Will Milne, director of the bureau’s National Centre for Crime and Justice Statistics, said the figures could be interpreted to mean more sexual assailants were being held to account by the justice system, but the rate at which women were coming forward to report sexual assault had increased faster than the rate at which police were recording offenders.
This implied many assault allegations did not result in police deciding to proceed with cases.
The Victorian Law Reform Commission noted in 2021 that police lay charges in about a quarter of all cases reported to them, and in about half of the cases reported where an offender is identified. Of these, a further 10 per cent of incidents reported to police drop out of the criminal justice system at the prosecution stage.
Data released by the ABS in 2020 showed there was a 22 per cent increase in the number of female victim-survivors reporting sexual assault over the same period. It found 2.2 million Australian women had experienced sexual assault, and only 13 per cent of sexual assault survivors had reported it to police.
“In real terms, more offenders are getting caught, but we’re also seeing larger numbers of victims,” Mr Milne said.
Some of the increased reporting can be attributed to historical sex offences being raised with police for the first time, especially since the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
Padma Raman, chief executive of Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety said the statistics were good news in terms of outcomes for sexual assault cases that proceed to court. But given “87 per cent of women who have experienced sexual assault don’t go to police – partly because they don’t think they will be believed” – she said many perpetrators were still avoiding prosecution.
“There is a huge amount of work to be done on community attitudes and removing systemic barriers to women achieving justice, especially women from marginalised groups,” Ms Raman said.
“It would be interesting to look at which sort of cases police decided to proceed with – are they more likely to proceed if there are physical injuries?, I’m sure that’s the case.”
In its report Improving the Justice System Response to Sexual Offenders, released in November, the Victorian Law Reform Commission argued for an independent panel to review police prosecution decisions.
Chair Tony North said police decision-making over which sexual assault cases were pursued was “one of the very fraught areas, where victims crash in the process”. He described the extent of how bad the justice process and outcomes were for women as “horrifying”.
The ABS data found one in three prisoners (32 per cent) serving time for sexual assault had been imprisoned previously, and about one third of assault offenders faced action from police for sexual assault or other offences in the year prior.
For those found guilty of sexual assault crimes in the County of Supreme courts, the likelihood of being sentenced to jail time increased during the decade.
“There has been a real increase in the number of offenders apprehended, an increase in criminal court guilty outcomes and prison [sentences],” Mr Milne said.
“In the majority of [trials] for more severe offences, there was a nine percentage point increase over the decade of those being found guilty being incarcerated: from 71 per cent in 2010-11 to 80 per cent in 2019-20.”
Kathleen Maltzahn, chief executive of Sexual Assault Services Victoria, said it was good to see more prosecutions succeed, but “the danger is we know that not everyone gets the same treatment [by police]”.
“We need the Law Reform Commission recommendations implemented so people who have been sexually assaulted and want their day in court can get it,” she said.
If you or anyone you know needs support, you can contact the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732), Lifeline 131 114, or Beyond Blue 1300 224 636.
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