Sexual offending in Australia 2021–22
By Tom Sullivan Emily Faulconbridge Samantha Bricknell Merran McAlister
The first data from the new Australian Sexual Offence Statistical (ASOS) collection shows:
There were 8,326 unique alleged sexual offenders proceeded against by police in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory in 2021–22.
The male sexual offending rate in these six jurisdictions was 75.64 per 100,000 and the female sexual offending rate was 5.12 per 100,000.
The largest proportion of offenders proceeded against for sexual offences in 2021–22 were alleged to have committed penetrative or non-penetrative sexual conduct offences (77%, n=6,450), followed by handling of unlawful sexual material offences (24%, n=2,024), enabling unlawful sexual conduct offences (8%, n=656) and persistent sexual abuse offences (1%, n=82).
Around one-third of offenders in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and the Northern Territory were a non-family member known to the victim (32%, n=1,891), 15 percent (n=886) were an intimate partner, 19 percent (n=1,124) were other family and 21 percent (n=1,267) were a stranger.
Statistical Report no. 47.
Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology. 2024. 65p.