Recorded outcomes

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Guilty Outcomes in Reported Sexual Assault and Related Offence Incidents 2006-2007

In 2006 more than 18,000 victim incidents of sexual assault and related offences were recorded by police across Australia (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2007).

Of sexual offence incidents (including rape) which were reported to police:

• Less than 20% resulted in charges being laid and criminal proceedings being instigated (Fitzgerald 2006; Heenan & Murray 2006);
• Of those cases which did get to court, between one quarter and a third of defendants pleaded guilty (Fitzgerald 2006);
• Between a quarter and a third of cases were dismissed without a hearing;
• Of defendants who pleaded not guilty where a decision was reached (about 40% of cases), about 4 in 10 were found guilty (Taylor 2007).

Download: Guilty Outcomes in Reported Sexual Assault and Related Offence Incidents 2006 - 7 ( 125Kb )

Source: Australian Institute of Criminology

ABS Criminal Courts 2005-2006

Five offence types accounted for 73% of defendants adjudicated in the Higher Courts:

• Acts intended to cause injury (23%);
• Illicit drug offences (17%);
• Sexual assault (14%);
• Robbery (10%); and
• Unlawful entry with intent (10%).

Of the 2,809 defendants adjudicated that had a trial outcome in the Higher Courts 44% were acquitted. Three principal offences accounted for the majority of trial outcomes:

• Sexual assault offences (27%);
• Acts intended to cause injury (20%); and
• Illicit drug offences (12%).

Defendants with a principal offence of sexual assault or acts intended to cause injury were more likely to be acquitted at trial (58% and 47% respectively), whilst defendants with a principal offence of illicit drug offences were less likely to be acquitted (22%).

Download: ABS Criminal Courts 2005 - 06 ( 1.8Mb )

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics

Australian Crime: Facts and Figures 2004

• In 2002-2003, 98% of sexual assault offenders were male.
• In 2003 the number of men sentenced for sex offences was 1,904 or 11% of the prison population.
• In 2003 the number of women sentenced for sex offences was 13 or 1% of the prison population.
• Males imprisoned for the violent offences of homicide, assault, sex offences and robbery accounted for almost half of all sentenced male prisoners in 2002 (47%), compared with one-third of sentenced females (36%).
• 11% of the offender population were juveniles, a percentage that has increased from 8% since 1995-1996.
• Between 1984 and 2003, the overall imprisonment rate increased from 86 to 153 per 100,000 adult population.
• The prison population has grown by an average 5% a year since 1984.
• At 30 June 2003, remanded prisoners (those awaiting trial or sentence), accounted for 21% of the total prisoner population, up from 12% in 1984.
• The rate of prisoners remanded in custody tripled between 1984 and 2003, from 10 to 31 per 100,000 population.

Download: Australian Crime: Facts and Figures 2004 ( 344Kb )

Source: Australian Institute of Criminology

Rape Snapshot 2001-2005

• In Victoria 181 people were sentenced for rape over the five year period 2001-2005.
• There were 37 people sentenced for this offence in 2005-06, down by 9 people from the previous year.
• All but one of those sentenced were men (99.4% or 180 of 181 people), including 36 of the 37 people sentenced in 2005-06.
• Around three quarters of the people sentenced for rape received a period of imprisonment (77%). This remained relatively stable each year, ranging from 74% in 2004-05 to 78% in 2002-03, 2003-04 and 2005-06.
• There were also 14 people who were given a wholly suspended period of imprisonment and 11 who received a partially suspended sentence of imprisonment over the five year period.
• The average age of people sentenced for rape was thirty-four years and five months. One male juvenile was sentenced over this period.
• Only one female out of 181 people was sentenced for rape over the 5 year period.
• In Victoria the average length of imprisonment term imposed on men sentenced for rape ranged from four years and six months in 2001-02 and 2002-03 to five years and nine months in 2004-05.
• From 2001-02 to 2005-06, the average length of total effective sentence for all men ranged from six years in 2001-02 to seven years and eight months in 2003-04.
• Over the same period, the average length of non-parole period ranged from four years in 2001-02 to five years and four months in 2003-04.
• There were 25 men given a suspended sentence of imprisonment as their total effective sentence.
• Of these, 14 men had their prison sentence wholly suspended and 11 received a partially suspended sentence of imprisonment.
• Each of the 181 people was sentenced for an average of 5.15 offences, including for 2.23 offences of rape.
• The most common offence finalised in conjunction with rape was indecent assault (33.1% of all cases).

Download: Rape Snapshot 2001 - 2005 ( 540Kb )

Source: The Sentencing Advisory Council

Study of Reported Rapes in Victoria 2000-2003

Of the 812 reports where the case outcome could be established:

• Police laid charges in only 15% of cases, suggesting that fewer than one in six victims will be involved in cases that are likely to proceed to a prosecution stage.
• 46.6% of the cases resulted in no further police action.
• If this figure is combined with the numbers of complaints being withdrawn, a total of 61.5% of cases did not proceed past the report or investigation stage.
• This figure could in fact be as many as 80.8% if it includes 'cases that are still ongoing' given no charges had been laid between the report stage and the commencement of this study.
• In 17 cases (2.1%), the case outcome was clearly categorised as a false report.
• The Victorian law reform commission found that 24.8% of the reported rapes were classified as complaints withdrawn in 2001-2002 and 31.5% in 2002-03.

The primary lines of defence used by alleged offenders was that:

• 30.7% alleged the victim consented to the sexual activity.
• 23.2% denied the allegations.
• 11.7% admitted contact but denied any sexual activity.
• 8.3% made partial admissions to the offences.
• 8% made full admissions.

Download: Study of Reported Rapes in Victoria 2000-2003 ( 450Kb )

Source: The Office of Women

Related reports

Copies of all the sentencing snapshots can be downloaded from The Sentencing Advisory Council.

This is not an exhaustive list of research in the area of family violence and sexual assault, merely a starting point. As the locations of web pages often change, many of these reports have been made available through this page to assist readers. Please note that these pdfs may not contain the latest version or any recent changes so it is recommended that researchers check the author's website for updates, suplements or amendments. All published details correct as at July 2009.

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