❓ Mr Katsambanis asks about assaults against seniors in WA, including statistics on recorded cases, regional breakdown, charges laid, and convictions. The Police Minister provides data on recorded assaults and charges, deferring the question about convictions to the Attorney General.
AnsweredQoN 5679Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
I refer to statistics on assaults against seniors, and ask: (a) In 2019 how many cases of assaults against seniors have been recorded; (b) In 2019 what is the breakdown of these statistics between metropolitan Perth and regional Western Australia; (c) For each year since 2017 how many people have been charged with assaults against seniors; and (d) For each year since 2017 how many people have been convicted of assaults against seniors?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
27 November 2019
Responded by
Minister for Police; Road Safety
Response time
12 days
Assaults against seniors are reprehensible acts. The Western Australian Police Force advise:
(a) In 2019 (up to September 30 2019) there have been 519 assault offences against seniors, representing 2% of all assaults in WA.
(b) In 2019 (up to September 30 2019) there have been 391 assaults against seniors in metropolitan WA and 128 in regional WA.
(c) The number of unique persons arrested or summonsed for assault offences committed against seniors by year the offender was process was 185 in 2017, 213 in 2018, and 135 in 2019 (to September 30).
Statistics are provisional and subject to revision. Statistics are of offences reported to or becoming known to police within the stated time period that have not been recorded with an outcome of Entered in Error, Falsely Reported, Mistakenly Reported, No Criminal Offence, or Offence Substituted. Victim information with relation to charges is not readily available from the data holdings for the Western Australian Police Force Prosecution application. Therefore to determine the number of charges, the count provided is for assault offences against seniors where the proceeding type is equal to ‘Arrest’ or ‘Summonsed.’ Counting Rules have been applied which exclude facilitation and duplication offences in specific circumstances. These rules are applied to certain reporting categories in order to provide a more accurate picture of crime volumes and trends. Counting Rules are applied historically to ensure comparability. For the purposes of this response ‘Seniors’ has been defined as persons aged 66 years and over at the time of the offence. Where the date the offence occurred is unknown the victim’s age at the time the offence was reported has been used instead. Offences are not included if the victim’s age is unknown.
(d) The question should be referred to the Attorney General.
(a) In 2019 (up to September 30 2019) there have been 519 assault offences against seniors, representing 2% of all assaults in WA.
(b) In 2019 (up to September 30 2019) there have been 391 assaults against seniors in metropolitan WA and 128 in regional WA.
(c) The number of unique persons arrested or summonsed for assault offences committed against seniors by year the offender was process was 185 in 2017, 213 in 2018, and 135 in 2019 (to September 30).
Statistics are provisional and subject to revision. Statistics are of offences reported to or becoming known to police within the stated time period that have not been recorded with an outcome of Entered in Error, Falsely Reported, Mistakenly Reported, No Criminal Offence, or Offence Substituted. Victim information with relation to charges is not readily available from the data holdings for the Western Australian Police Force Prosecution application. Therefore to determine the number of charges, the count provided is for assault offences against seniors where the proceeding type is equal to ‘Arrest’ or ‘Summonsed.’ Counting Rules have been applied which exclude facilitation and duplication offences in specific circumstances. These rules are applied to certain reporting categories in order to provide a more accurate picture of crime volumes and trends. Counting Rules are applied historically to ensure comparability. For the purposes of this response ‘Seniors’ has been defined as persons aged 66 years and over at the time of the offence. Where the date the offence occurred is unknown the victim’s age at the time the offence was reported has been used instead. Offences are not included if the victim’s age is unknown.
(d) The question should be referred to the Attorney General.
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