Sexual and domestic assault reports have spiked in NSW during the past five years.
Crime data shows four major offences have increased dramatically, with non-domestic assaults and motor vehicle theft reports also rising.
A shocking 42 per cent lift in sexual assault reports in the 12 months leading to March 2024, compared with five years ago, is the headline finding in the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research's quarterly statistics.
Some 6533 criminal incidents of sexual assault were recorded in NSW in the year leading to March 2020, but that has increased to 9283 in the year to March 2024.
NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research executive director Jackie Fitzgerald said it was likely some of the rise was a real increase in sexual assault occurrences, rather than simply more people feeling comfortable bringing reports to police.
"One way to understand whether the increase in reported sexual assault is due to more people coming forward to police or an actual increase in sexual violence is to look at victim survey results," she told AAP.
"Across Australia there has been an increase in self-reported experience of sexual violence from 1.2 per cent of the population in 2016 to 1.9 per cent of the population in 2021/22 (and) this is independent of increased reporting."
Ms Fitzgerald said NSW Police's online portal for reporting sexual assaults would have contributed to the increased count, with 1794 reports made via the portal in the year to 2024, compared with 957 in the previous 12-month period.
The data showed a 15.4 per cent rise in domestic violence-related assaults, which Ms Fitzgerald put down to an increase in reporting and an escalation of intimate partner assaults.
Non-domestic assaults have also increased against adult women and young people.
"Looking at where these offences are occurring, we've seen an increase in residential premises (up 18 per cent or 1,567 additional incidents) and school premises (up 46 per cent or 748 additional incidents)," Ms Fitzgerald said.
Only three of the bureau's 13 major criminal offence categories dropped in the year to March 2024 - robbery, stealing from motor vehicles and malicious damage to property.
- 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
- Lifeline 13 11 14
- National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
AAP
