Release date: 10.30am, Wednesday 15 September 2021

Link to report summary - NSW Recorded Crime Statistics quarterly update June 2021

New statistics released today by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) show that crime across most of NSW has remained stable or fallen in the two years to June 2021. As previously reported, all high-volume property and many violent crimes fell sharply in April 2020 in line with measures to reduce the spread of the pandemic. Since then most violent offending, including domestic assault, non-domestic assault and robbery, has returned to pre-pandemic levels. By contrast, many property offences, including theft and break and enter, remain below pre-pandemic levels.

In the 24 months to June 2021 one of the 17 major crime categories was trending upwards, six were trending downwards and the remaining ten were stable.  The offences trending downwards were: 

• Break and enter dwelling – Down 16.6%
• Motor vehicle theft – Down 8.6%
• Steal from retail store – Down 13.9%
• Steal from dwelling – Down 9.8%
• Steal from person – Down 28.4%
• Fraud – Down 11.5%

Sexual assault  

The only major offence to show a significant upward trend in the 24 months to June 2021 was sexual assault. Recorded incidents of sexual assault rose 21.0 % year-on-year to June 2021 (up 1,367 incidents). 

As reported last quarter, in March 2021 sexual assault reports spiked by 61% in-line with an unprecedented community focus on the prevalence and response to sexual violence.  The sharp increase in March 2021 was temporary. 

However, irrespective of the March 2021 spike, sexual assault reports have increased in the last 24 months (up 16.2% year-on-year excluding the March 2021 increase). 

The increase in sexual assault is due to rises these three categories of sexual assault:

• Adult victims (16+ years old) (up 27.2% or 683 incidents; 50% of the overall increase).
• Historic child sexual assault reports (up 27.7% or 342 incidents; 25% of the overall increase)
• Child victims reporting current sexual assaults (up 12.4% or 342 incidents; 25% of the overall increase)

The increase in adult victims appears to be almost entirely among female victims.  While victimisation increased for women of all ages, the rise was larger for women aged 18 to 24 years. The majority of the increase was also driven by assaults between intimate partners, mainly boy/girlfriend and spouse/ex-spouse.

Commenting on the findings, BOCSAR Executive Director, Jackie Fitzgerald, expects that in the time since this data was collected, crime trends will have been significantly impacted by the current COVID lockdown.  “We know from 2020 that stay at home orders interrupt criminal activity and lead to sharp falls in many crimes. The impact of the most recent restrictions will be closely monitored in the coming months as NSW residents gradually resume regular activities”

Further enquiries: Jackie Fitzgerald, Executive Director, 0423 139 687

Email: bcsr@justice.nsw.gov.au

Copies of the report: www.bocsar.nsw.gov.au