Indigenous victims of violent crime

Don Weatherburn (Director, NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research)
CAEPR Seminar Series August 29, 2007 (Streaming audio, MP3)

Abstract: A number of theories have been put forward to explain the high level of violence amongst Australia's Indigenous population. Up until 2002, lack of suitable data on the risk factors associated with Indigenous violent victimisation made it very difficult to assess the adequacy of these theories. In 2002 the Australian Bureau of Statistics conducted a national survey of Indigenous Australians (the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey, or NATSISS). That survey made it possible to examine a range of correlates of Indigenous violent victimisation. Analysis of the NATSISS victimisation data, however, has so far been limited to a few bi-variate comparisons. This seminar presents the results of the first multivariate analysis of risk factors for violent victimisation among Indigenous Australians using the NATSISS. The results provide little support for cultural theories of Indigenous violence but strong support for social disorganisation, social deprivation and lifestyle theories, particularly the latter.