How much does crime spike over the holidays? The relationship between public holidays and assault

This paper shows the daily number of domestic violence (DV) and non-DV assaults recorded by the NSW Police Force on each date of the year to observe the extent to which violence increases on public holidays and other significant dates.

Assaults recorded by NSW Police spike dramatically on certain days of the year in line with key public holidays. The day of the year with the highest number of both DV assaults and non-DV assaults is New Year’s Day, with violence most likely to occur in the early hours from midnight to 3am. For domestic violence related assault another peak occurs over Christmas Day and Boxing Day.  Both non-DV assault and DV assault also spike on Australia Day and Anzac Day.