Type:	Report
Title:	Measuring family violence in Victoria : Victorian family violence database (volume 3) : seven year trend analysis 1999-2006
Authors:	Victims Support Agency
Keywords:	Policing;Measurement;Statistics
Year:	2008
Publisher:	Victorian Department of Justice
Notes:	General Overview:This report, third in the series, is the seven year analysis (1999-2006) of data held on the Victorian Family Violence Database. Discussion:The report was released in January 2009 by the Department of Justice Victoria. It is the most recent update of a project begun in 1999 which analyses family violence incidents reported in that State. The database, now administered by the Victims Support Agency in the Department of Justice, incorporates data from Victoria Police family violence incident reports, Victorian Magistrates’ and Children’s Court finalised intervention order applications and the Victorian Supported Accommodation Assistance Program (SAAP). This seven year analysis (1999-2006) includes three new data sets: statistics from Victorian Public Hospital Emergency Departments, initial snapshot data from the Department of Justice Victims of Crime Helpline and the Department of Human Services Integrated Reporting and Information System (IRIS). The report’s three appendices provide police data, VEMD data and court data according to local government area (LGA). VEMD is the Victorian public hospital system category identifying human intent injuries caused by a family member. Victorian Public Hospital emergency presentations for family violence (VEMD) figures are an important new inclusion, as two per cent of all injuries to women presenting to a hospital emergency department are considered to have been caused by domestic partners. The VEMD data also allows limited analysis of family violence among Indigenous and CALD persons and, for the first time, analysis of family violence among women with a disability is included. The Victims of Crime Helpline has also contributed one year of data to the report. This free service is confidential and information collected is voluntary and limited to the type of crime, gender of client, type of assistance provided and any other services already involved. Family violence (including child abuse) is the second most commonly reported crime and constitutes 9.5 percent of all calls to the helpline. In the past four years family violence incident reports to the police have levelled off at around 28,000 incidents and the ratio of male to female victims has remained consistent throughout the seven year collecting period. The steady increase in the number of children recorded as witnesses to family violence is seen as validating the increased training of police members in the awareness of the impact of family violence on children. There continue to be significant gaps and limitations in the data collection and there is an awareness of the need for data collection agencies to provide information in a way which is comparable across the various agencies, to better implement integrated responses to family violence. System reform over the past four years has seen an increase in the reporting of family violence and in the accountability of perpetrators, and it is hoped that a more complete picture of family violence reform will be illustrated at the end of 2009, once the new Family Violence Protection Act and Victorian Police Safety Notices have been in place for 12 months.
URI:	https://anrows.intersearch.com.au/anrowsjspui/handle/1/19727
ISBN:	9781921028793
Physical description:	vii, 142 p. + appendices
Appears in Collections:	Reports

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