The number of sexual assault offenders recorded by Australian police jumped 13 per cent in the decade to 2020, and 97 per cent of those charged were men, new statistics show.
More than 53,000 sexual offenders were recorded between 2010-11 and 2019-20 and, accounting for population growth, the male sex offender rate increased from 46 per 100,000 men to 52 per 100,000.
Will Milne, director of the bureau’s National Centre for Crime and Justice Statistics, said the figures could be interpreted to mean more sexual assailants were being held to account by the justice system, but the rate at which women were coming forward to report sexual assault had increased faster than the rate at which police were recording offenders.
Data released by the ABS in 2020 shows there was a 22 per cent increase in the number of female victim-survivors reporting sexual assault over the same period. It found 2.2 million Australian women had experienced sexual assault, and only 13 per cent of sexual assault survivors had reported it to police.
“In real terms, more offenders are getting caught, but we’re also seeing larger numbers of victims,” Mr Milne said.
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