According to LY Law, Criminal Law Specialists, 1 out of 5 women in Australia will be sexually assaulted at some point in their lives ("Sexual Assault Cases on the Rise", 2017). ABC News reports that according to 2015 crime statistics sexual assaults had risen 3 percent since the previous year with a six year high of 21,830 victims across the country. The Australia Bureau of Statistics shows that people aged 10 and over charged with sexual assault and related offences had increased to 7.175 in 2013-14 from 6,006 the year before. According to the SAPOL crime statistics over the current rolling year that has been 1,178 cases of aggravated sexual assault and 325 cases of non-aggravated sexual assault (SAPOL, 2017). The reasons surrounding this significant rise can be based upon the media’s portrayal of crime as well as the increase of marketing and release of violent movies and games involving sexual assault. …show more content…
In the years 2012-13 there were nearly 15,000 more offences committed than the year before resulting in a 4 percent jump. A growing trade of illegal weapons has been partly to blame for the murder rate climbing. According to SAPOL crime statistics over the current rolling year there has only been 19 cases of murder but 576 cases of violent assault (SAPOL, 2017). In Queensland specifically homicide offences- which include murder, attempted murder, manslaughter and driving causing death increased by 20 percent with 128 recorded a year ("Australian crime: Facts & figures: 2013 - Chapter 1: Recorded crime",