Stalking, harassment and threating behaviour are under-reported with women overwhelmingly as the victims and men the perpetrators. Many women suffer harassment when going about their daily lives. In Victoria, there is a 2 to 1 ratio of female and male victim reports of stalking, harassment and threatening behaviour.
Stalking is frequently minimised or ignored when reports are made to the police. Research has found that victims do not feel that they are taken seriously and that they are treated insensitively and blamed. These attitudes suggest a lack of understanding about what constitutes stalking and its impact on victims.
The statistics
2.7m people aged 18 and over have experienced stalking since the age of 15
2021-22 Personal Safety Survey
1 in 5 women experienced stalking since age 15, compared to 1 in 15 men.
2021-22 Personal Safety Survey
6,100 offenders of family and domestic violence-related stalking in 2021-22
ABS Recorded Crime – Offenders data collection
In the Southern Metropolitan Region
Across the SMR, stalking, harassment and threatening behaviour offences have decreased since 2018 in a number of LGAs (Bayside, Cardina, Casey, Glen Eira, Greater Dandenong, Port Phillip, Stonnington, and Kingston).
From 2018 to 2022, four LGAs recorded a decrease of up to 5% with Cardinia having an average decrease of 11% from 2018-2022.
On average, women experienced 86% more incidents than men between 2018-2022.
It is important to acknowledge the difference between recorded criminal incidents and recorded offences, as these two separate data sets highlight quite distinct statistics and information.
“A recorded criminal incident is a criminal event that may include one or more offences, alleged offenders and/or victims, and that is recorded on a single date and at one location. The criminal incident count is designed to represent the broad event that occurs as a more representative measure of instances of crime, rather than using the bulk number of offences that Victoria Police members record within one incident.”.
Crime Statistics Agency (2020)
In contrast, recorded offences may or may not result from a recorded criminal incident. In other words, while an incident is always recorded when police attend, a criminal charge or an offence may not be recorded or arise out of that incident due to factors including adequate evidence, witnesses and so on.