Alcohol and Other Drug-Related Violence and Non-Reporting

• NCJ Number: 186881
• Author(s): Meredith Bryant; Paul Williams
• Editor(s): Adam Graycar Dr.
• Date Published: October 2000
• Length: 6 pages
• Sale Source: Australian Institute of Criminology
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: Australia
• Note: Trends and Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice, No. 171

Annotation

This paper presents results from a national survey of Australians which surveyed alcohol and other drug-related assaults, and the reporting behaviors of victims of the violence. It aims to determine the extent of alcohol and other drug-related assaults that are not reported to police and to identify factors that may underlie the non-reporting.

Abstract

When alcohol and other drug-related assaults are not reported to police, there is cause for community concern. Unreported crime has impacts on victims and on society at large. If citizens refrain from reporting crime, new policy initiatives may not be developed and the threat of repeat victimization remains. While all assaults cause concern, police should not be involved in trivial matters. The paper reports data from the National Drug Strategy Household Surveys showing that experience of verbal and physical abuse and being put in fear declines with age from the 20s onwards for both males and females. However, older people are more inclined than younger persons to report physical violence to police (older men much more so than older women). The paper summarizes six key points: (1) between 1995 and 1998 the rates of experiencing alcohol-related abuse declined; (2) in 1998, 6.4 percent of persons were physically abused by an alcohol affected person in the previous 12 months; (3) in 1998, 2.4 percent were physically abused by a person affected by drugs other than alcohol; (4) of those who were physically abused in the previous 12 months, around 70 percent did not report the incident to police; and (5) the main reason for not reporting incidents to police was that victims thought the matter was to trivial for police to deal with (56.0 percent). Through more routine communication between the police and the community, using initiatives such as community policing and Neighborhood Watch, victims of alcohol and drug-related abuse might be encouraged to speak out about their experiences and feel confident that their notifications will be acted on by an appropriate authority. Notes and references