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Perpetrators stop all forms of family violence behaviour

Indicator: Reduction in all family violence behaviours

Measure: Number/proportion of reported contraventions of Family Violence orders

Family violence orders are a key mechanism to help keep victim survivors, including children, safe and hold perpetrators accountable. Perpetrators who breach an order can be charged with a criminal offence.

Most people on a family violence order1, 2 are not recorded by police for a breach of order offence. In 2020–21, 63,711, or 84.2 per cent of people on an active order were not recorded with a breach.

Although most people do not breach, in 2020-21, 11,919 people were recorded with at least one breach of a family violence order. This was an increase from 9,008 in 2015–16.

Despite the increase in numbers, the proportion of people who breach a family violence order has remained consistent (between 15.8–16.6 per cent) during this time.

Number and proportion of reported contraventions of Family Violence orders – 2015-16 to 2020-21

The data in this chart is discussed in the preceding paragraphs.
Source: Victoria Police LEAP data collected by Crime Statistics Agency
Number and proportion of reported contraventions of Family Violence orders – 2015-16 to 2020-21

The family violence reform commenced in 2016.

Family violence respondents 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21

Number of respondents who breached a family violence order

9,008 9,749 9,851 10,508 11,736 11,919

Total number of respondents

56,047 59,722 62,045 65,460 70,790 75,630

Proportion of total respondents who breached a family violence order at least once

16.1% 16.3% 15.9% 16.1% 16.6% 15.8%

Figures include adolescents who use violence

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Proportion of people on a family violence protection order who breach the order - by number of breaches - 2015-16 to 2020-21

Family violence protection orders and breaches 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21
Number of people on active family violence protection order breaches 56,047 59,772 62,045 65,460 70,799 75,630
0 (did not breach) 83.9% 83.7% 84.1% 83.9% 83.4% 84.2%
1 breach 7.6% 7.3% 7.0% 7.0% 7.3% 6.6%
2 breaches 2.9% 2.9% 3.0% 3.0% 3.0% 2.8%
3 breaches 1.5% 1.5% 1.3% 1.3% 1.4% 1.3%
4 breaches 0.9% 1.1% 1.0% 1.1% 1.0% 1.0%
5 or more breaches 3.2% 3.5% 3.6% 3.7% 3.8% 4.1%
Proportion of people who breached (combined) 16.1% 16.3% 15.9% 16.1% 16.6% 15.8%

Source: Victoria Police LEAP data collected by Crime Statistics Agency

  • These explanatory notes are for all graphs and tables under the measure 'Number/proportion of reported contraventions of Family Violence orders'

    Source

    Data in this measure comes from the Victoria Police Law Enforcement Assistance Program (LEAP) data collected by the Crime Statistics Agency.

    Definition

    Numerator – Number of respondents who contravened a family violence intervention order at least once during the reference period.

    Denominator – Total number of respondents on a family violence intervention order during the reference period.

    Time period

    Data captures six financial years (FY), 01-Jul-2015 to 30-Jun-2016 through to 01-Jul-2020 to 30-Jun-2021.

    Data details

    The data presented captures the number of unique respondents who contravened a family violence intervention order within the reference period.

    Data quality and caveats

    The data reported is subject to changes to the L17 Risk Assessment and Risk Management Report in 2019-20, including changes to recording practices.

    Full / Partial / Proxy / Ideal

    Full data.

Measure: Number/proportion of individuals identified as the respondent in an L17 report who receive a subsequent L17 report within 12 months

In 2020–21, just over one-third of respondents (36.7 per cent) were associated with more than one family violence incident over a 365-day period.

The proportion of unique respondents with more than one family violence incident has not changed substantially over time.

During the six-year period, male respondents were more likely to be recorded with subsequent incidents.

Number and proportion of respondents with more than one family violence incident within 12 months – 2015-16 to 2020-21

The data in this chart is discussed in the preceding paragraphs.
Source: Victoria Police LEAP data collected by Crime Statistics Agency
Number and proportion of respondents with more than one family violence incident within 12 months – 2015-16 to 2020-21

The family violence reform commenced in 2016.

Family violence respondents 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21

Number of respondents recorded with more than one incident (within 365 days)

17,551 17,419 17,008 18,594 19,973 21,350

Total number of respondents

50,632 49,960 9,889 53,211 55,720 58,118

Proportion of total respondents recorded with more than one incident (within 365 days)

34.6% 34.9% 34.1% 34.9% 35.8% 36.7%

Figures include adolescents who use violence

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Number and proportion of male and female respondents with more than one family violence incident within 12 months – 2015–16 to 2020–21

The data in this chart is discussed in the preceding paragraphs.
Source: Victoria Police LEAP data collected by Crime Statistics Agency
Number and proportion of male and female respondents with more than one family violence incident within 12 months – 2015–16 to 2020–21
Family violence respondents who re-offend - by sex 2015-16 2016-17 2017-8 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21

Total number of family violence re-offenders

(including where sex is not known)

17,511 17,419 17,008 18,594 19,973 21,350
Number of family violence re-offenders who are male 14,017 13,860 13,478 14,649 15,592 16,577
Proportion of family violence re-offenders who are male 80.0% 79.6% 79.2% 78.8% 78.1% 77.6%
Number of family violence re-offenders who are female 3,489 3,554 3,518 3,940 4,374 4,763
Proportion of family violence re-offenders who are female 19.9% 20.4% 20.7% 21.2% 21.9% 22.3%

Figures include adolescents who use violence.

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  • These explanatory notes are for all graphs under the measure 'Number/proportion of individuals identified as the respondent in an L17 report who receive a subsequent L17 report within 12 months'

    Source

    Data in this measure comes from the Victoria Police Law Enforcement Assistance Program (LEAP) data collected by the Crime Statistics Agency.

    Definition

    Numerator – Number of unique people identified as the other party on an L17 form during the reference period, who were previously identified as the other party in an L17 report up to 365 days prior.

    Denominator – Number of people identified as the other party in an L17 report during the reference period.

    Time period

    Data captures six financial years (FY), 01-Jul-2015 to 30-Jun-2016 through to 01-Jul-2020 to 30-Jun-2021.

    Data details

    Recidivism rate is calculated using the last day of a committed offence within a financial year and checking to see whether similar offence had also taken up to 365 days prior to it. In cases where the recorded incidents take place on the same date, they are not counted as re-offence, for example if Other Party (other individual who involved in a family violence incident) engages in 5 different counts of family violence on the same day, they won’t be considered as a re-offence.

    Data quality and caveats

    The data reported is subject to changes to the L17 Risk Assessment and Risk Management Report in 2019-20, including changes to recording practices.

    Full / Partial / Proxy / Ideal

    Full data.


Notes

1The figures in this measure refer to people on orders including a family violence intervention order, interim family violence intervention order and/or a family violence safety notice.

2A person can be on more than one active order within the reference period.

Reviewed 14 April 2022

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