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

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 |
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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
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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

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

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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