In 2021-22 an estimated 14% (2.8 million) of people in Australia aged 18 years and over had experienced sexual violence since the age of 15 (ABS Personal Safety Survey 2021-22). A higher proportion of women had experienced sexual violence compared with men:

• over 1 in 5 (22% or 2.2 million) women in Australia have experienced sexual violence since the age of 15
• 1 in 16 (6.1% or 582,400) men in Australia have experienced sexual violence since the age of 15

Trends in sexual assault

Data file

See the infographic here: Sexual offences incidents (PDF, 252.7 KB)

Progress through the Criminal Justice System

Over the past decade there has been heightened public concern over the low conviction rate for sexual assault and it is certainly the case that sexual assault reports far out-number convictions in NSW. In 2022 there were 9,138 incidents of sexual assault reported to the NSW Police Force, compared with just 1,016 convictions. The low conviction rate among reported sexual assaults has been a consistent feature of this offence in the justice system. 

There are various stages of the criminal justice system between reporting a criminal incident and conviction. An incident can fail to proceed to the next level at each of these stages. For instance, an offence might be reported to police but the offender not found. Another reported offence might proceed all the way to trial but the defendant found not guilty.

The infographic shows the number of sexual offences at various stages of the criminal justice process for sexual offences involving adult victims (aged 16 years and over at the time of the incident) and child victims (aged under 16 years at the time of the incident).

Read the full report: Attrition of sexual assaults from the New South Wales criminal justice system