Crime in Victoria
| Victoria | |
|---|---|
| Crime rates* (2019) | |
| Violent crimes | |
Larceny-theft | 2573.0 |
Notes *Number of reported crimes per 100,000 population. Source: [[1] Crime Statistics Victoria 2019 Data] | |
Criminal activity in
Victoria has had a comparatively low
Crime statistics
Statistics released by the Crime Statistics Agency in September 2018 showed a 7.8% drop in the overall crime rate. The statistics showed the criminal incident rate fell to 5,922 cases per 100,000 people in the previous year, continuing a trend of reduction in the overall number of criminal incidents from the previous year, with significant falls in theft, burglaries and drug dealing.[6]
In the year ending September 2020, the statistics were skewed by the introduction of six new public safety offences relating to the
| Type | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide and related offences | 3.3 | 2.9 | 3.2 | 3.9 | 2.2 |
| Assault and related offences | 634.9 | 629.2 | 689.3 | 685.6 | 677.1 |
| Sexual offences | 180.5 | 199.6 | 199.8 | 230.2 | 219.4 |
| Abduction related offences | 11.0 | 12.0 | 13.0 | 11.8 | 11.1 |
| Robbery | 43.1 | 41.8 | 49.7 | 50.9 | 48.0 |
| Blackmail/extortion | 3.5 | 3.8 | 3.2 | 3.0 | 3.5 |
| Stalking, harassment and threatening behaviour | 186.6 | 200.4 | 205.0 | 186.3 | 182.8 |
| Burglary/Break and enter | 776.1 | 790.4 | 877.6 | 775.2 | 651.9 |
| Theft | 2527.0 | 2632.7 | 3018.3 | 2704.4 | 2600.4 |
| Drug offences (total) | 431.5 | 494.3 | 491.8 | 461.3 | 473.4 |
Massacres of Aboriginal Victorians
Though often not recorded as crimes at the time, numerous crimes were perpetrated against Aboriginal Victorians throughout the colonial period. Among the most heinous of these crimes were massacres. The following list tallies the better documented massacres of Aboriginal Victorians. The information provided below is based on ongoing research 'Violence on the Australian Colonial Frontier, 1788–1960' undertaken by the Australian Research Council.[11][12]
- 1833–34 Convincing Ground massacre – Between 60 and 200 Gunditjmara men, women and children were reported to have been murdered. Committed on the shore near Portland, Victoria, it was one of the largest recorded massacres in Victoria.[13]
- 1839 Dja Dja Wurrung people were murdered by a group of settlers, led by Charles Hutton at Campaspe Creek, Central Victoria.[14]
- 1839 Djargurd Wurrung people were murdered near Camperdown, Victoria. The massacre was committed by Frederick Taylor and others in retaliation for some sheep being killed.[15]
- 1840–50 Kurnai people were murdered during a 13-year period, many of the murders were committed by groups led by Angus McMillan.[16]
- 1840 Fighting Hills massacre – Between 20 and 80 Jardwadjali men, women, and children were murdered by Whyte brothers (William, George, Pringle and James Whyte). Near Hamilton, Victoria.[17]
- 1840 Fighting Waterholes massacre – The Whyte brothers murdered a further 40 Konongwootong Gunditj people.[18]
- 1843 Gunai people were murdered by a group of around 20 colonists led by a Scottish colonist and pastoralist, Angus McMillan.[19]
Convicts
Convicts were never directly transported to Victoria, however at least 300 convicts arrived in Sorrento in 1803 as part of Colonel David Collin's short-lived, first attempt at British settlement in Victoria, in 1804. This first group of convicts also included the famous escaped convict William Buckley. Over the following decades small numbers of convicts were sent from Tasmania and New South Wales to carry out government work, surveying and labour.[20]
Eureka Stockade
From the 28th of November till the 3 December 1854 the
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse
In January 2012 widespread sexual and other abuse of children by personnel in religious organisations was exposed by the Protecting Victoria's Vulnerable Children Inquiry.
Later in 2012,
The Royal Commission found many of the worst incidents in Victoria occurred in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Ballarat. One of Australia's most infamous paedophiles, former priest Gerald Ridsdale was based in Ballarat and protected by church hierarchy, who shifted Ridsdale from parish to parish, between 1961 and 1988, in order to cover-up Ridsdales crimes. Ridsdale was convicted of 138 sex offences against children, he sexually abused as many as 50 children.[31]
On 11 December 2018, Ballarat born former
Melbourne
Despite Melbourne's CBD having the state's highest crime rate (15,949.9)[6] the city is considered one of the safest in the world,[5] with Melbourne being ranked the 5th safest city globally. The notably low crime rate is one of the factors that led to Melbourne being named the world's most liveable city by The Economist for seven years in a row up until 2017. The recorded homicide rate of Melbourne was 2.2 per 100,000 in 2018.[35][36]
Notable major crimes and criminal figures
- Squizzy Taylor – Fitzroy, Melbourne. He was a prominent figure and appeared repeatedly in Melbourne news media. He was involved in the 1919 Melbourne gang war and was eventually shot dead in 1927.[37]
- John Wren – John Wren was an Australian underworld figure from Collingwood, Victoria. Wren is best known for being the real life inspiration for the similarly named fictional character, John West in Frank Hardy's novel Power Without Glory.
- Mark "Chopper" Read – Mark Brandon "Chopper" Read was an Australian criminal, gang member and author. Read wrote a series of semi-autobiographical fictional crime novels and children's books and was the subject of the biographical film Chopper, starring Eric Bana.
- Russell Street bombing – The car bombing that took place in Melbourne's CBD in March 1986. The car bomb was detonated outside the Russell Street Police Headquarters complex in Russell Street, Melbourne. The blast killed a policewoman and injured 22 others.
- Hoddle Street massacre – The Hoddle Street, Clifton Hill. The shootings resulted in the deaths of seven people, and serious injury to 19 others. Julian Knight, a 19-year-old former Australian Army officer cadet was arrested and charged for the shootings.[38]
- Queen Street Massacre – The Frank Vitkovic. The spree-killing occurred on the 8th of December 1987 on Queen Street. Vitkovic killed 9 people including himself, and injured five others.[39]
- The Pettingill family and the Walsh St killing – Trevor Pettingill were accused and acquitted of the 1988 Walsh Street police shootings, with both acquitted along with two fellow defendants. Victor Peirce was later killed in the Melbourne gangland killings.
- Mr. Cruel - Mr Cruel was the moniker for an unidentified serial child rapist and suspected murderer who assaulted 3 girls and is the prime suspect in the murder of Karmein Chan. Mr Cruel was active between 1987 and 1991 and operated within the Eastern Suburbs of Melbourne.
- Melbourne gangland killings – The
- Monash University shooting – The Monash University shooting was a 2002 shooting in which a 36-year-old international student killed students William Wu and Steven Chan, both 26, and injured five others including the lecturer. It took place at Monash University, in Melbourne, on 21 October 2002. The gunman, Huan Yun Xiang, was acquitted of crimes related to the shootings due to mental impairment, and is currently under psychiatric care. Several of the people present in the room of the shootings were officially commended for their bravery in tackling Xiang and ending the shooting.
- 2014 Endeavour Hills stabbings – The counter-terrorism police officers with a knife outside the Victoria Police Endeavour Hills police station before being shot dead.[41]
- Death of Patrick Cronin - Diamond Creek pub as he tried to pull his friend out of a brawl that was taking place and was coward punched. Cronin's killer Andrew William Lee received an eight year prison sentence with a five year non-parole period.[42]
- Dimitrious Gargasoulas – Melbourne car attack – The Gargasoulas, was subsequently found guilty of six counts of murder.
- 2017 Brighton siege – The police tactical unit, Khayre was killed and three police officers were wounded.[45]
- Saeed Noori – Melbourne car attack – The December 2017 Melbourne car attack was a vehicular attack that took place on the corner of Flinders Street and Elizabeth Street in Melbourne's CBD. The attack resulted in the death of one person, and seventeen others were injured.
- Melbourne stabbing attack – The
- Apex – Apex, otherwise known as the Apex Gang, was a term used to describe an informal group of young male criminals accused of being involved in street crime in and around Melbourne in 2015–18. The name was frequently invoked during the "African Gang Crisis" debate in the media in 2018. The nature and existence of the "gang" was uncertain and many claims regarding the group have been described as exaggerated by police, politicians, journalists and others.[47] Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton claimed that Victorians were scared to go to restaurants at night because of "African gang" violence. Victoria Police stated that the group included a diverse range of young people from different ethnic backgrounds, the majority of them born in Australia.[48][49]
Rural and regional crime
Mallee Mafia
During the 1980s the Mildura Mafia emerged as a major crime group that dominated marijuana production in Australia and ran an Australia-wide money-laundering network.[52] Several notable mafia murders have been linked to the region including the suspected mafia hit on 43-year-old Marco Medici in 1983, police believe the murder may be connected to the assassination of anti-drug crusader Donald MacKay at Griffith in 1977.[53] The 1984 murders of Melbourne gangsters Rocco Medici and Giuseppe Furina are also connected to Mildura through the Medici family. In 1982, 42-year-old Mildura greengrocer Dominic Marafiote and his parents were murdered after Marafiote gave South Australian police the names of Calabrian mafia bosses in South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales.[54] In 2016 Mildura residents Nicola Ciconte, Vincenzo Medici and Michael Calleja were convicted and sentenced in Italy for their role in a plot to smuggle up to 500 kilograms of cocaine into Australia.[55][56]
Rural methamphetamine use
Beginning in 2010, Victoria has seen a significant increase in the use of Methamphetamine, commonly referred to as ice. While relatively few Australians report using ice compared to other drugs, rates of methamphetamine use are significantly higher among rural and remote areas of Victoria compared to major cities. Rural methamphetamine use rates are 2.5 times higher than those in metropolitan areas. Prior to 2010 rates of use of illicit drugs in rural areas were significantly lower than those in the cities.[57]
In 2014, A
In 2015, 20 people were arrested over an alleged large drug trafficking operation in Mildura in north-west Victoria. Methamphetamine, marijuana and ecstasy were seized in the raids. The drugs seized were reported to be worth more than $15,000. $20,000 in cash and weapons were also seized.
In 2017, a joint Australian Federal Police (AFP) and United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) investigation lead to the seizure of $2.4 million in cash at the Mildura Airport, after 255 kilograms crystal methamphetamine were found at a storage facility in Northern California in June. the bust was part of an investigation into an alleged conspiracy to use a light plane to export drugs from the US to Australia. The 72-year-old pilot, a 52-year-old man, from Zetland in Sydney's east and a 58-year-old Melbourne man were charged with conspiracy to import a commercial quantity of border controlled drugs and money laundering offences. The crystal methamphetamine was reported to be worth $255 million. That arrests were connected to $2.4 million which was found in Mildura, in a prime mover that was driven from Adelaide in April.[61]
See also
References
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- ^ "Crime and safety in your area". Crime Statistics Agency. Retrieved 30 January 2019.
- ^ "Global Peace Index 2018" (PDF). Visionofhumanity.org. Institute for Economics and Peace. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 April 2019. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
- ^ a b "Safe Cities Index: Security in a rapidly urbanising world" (PDF). The Economist. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
- ^ a b c Kerr, Jack (20 September 2018). "Victoria's crime rate has fallen again, figures show". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
- ^ Greycar, Adam (25 January 2001). "CRIME IN TWENTIETH CENTURY AUSTRALIA". Australian Bureau of Statistics. Australian Government. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
- ^ "Latest Victorian crime data". Crime Statistics Agency Victoria. 28 September 2020. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
Text may have been copied from this source, which is available under a Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.
- ^ "Recorded Offences". Crime Statistics Agency Victoria. 17 December 2020. Archived from the original on 13 February 2021. Retrieved 13 February 2021. Text may have been copied from this source, which is available under a Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.
- ^ "Crime Statistics Agency Victoria". Retrieved 9 February 2019.
- ^ "Story Map Journal". Namesofplaces.maps.arcgis.com. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
- ^ "Mapping the massacres of Australia's colonial frontier". Newcastle.edu.au. University of Newcastle. 5 July 2017. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
- Museum Victoria. Archived from the originalon 30 September 2007. Retrieved 18 May 2007.
... and the whalers having used their guns beat them off and hence called the spot the Convincing Ground.
- ISSN 0818-0032
- ISBN 0-85575-281-5
- ^ Rule, Andrew (27 April 2002). "The black watch, and a verdict of history". The Age.
- ^ Fighting Hills massacre:
- Ben Kiernan, Blood and Soil, p.300.
- Michael Cannon,Life in the Country,1978 p.76.
- Chris Clark, The Encyclopaedia of Australia's Battles, Allen & Unwin, 2010 p.16.
- "Museum Victoria [ed-online] Encounters". webarchive.nla.gov.au. Archived from the original on 12 July 2003. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
- ^ Fighting Waterholes massacre:
- partland, lily (10 July 2014). "Western District memorial commemorates Aboriginal massacre". ABC South West Vic. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
- "Centre For 21st Century Humanities". C21ch.newcastle.edu.au. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
- ^ Warrigal Creek massacre:
- Ben Kiernan, Blood and soil: a world history of genocide and extermination from Sparta to Darfur, Yale University Press, 2007 p.298
- Michael Cannon, Life in the Country: Australia in the Victorian Age,:2, (1973) Nelson 1978 p.78
- ^ "Victoria's early history, 1803–1851". State Library of Victoria. Victorian Government. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
- ISBN 1-876478-61-6
- ^ "Women's Suffrage Petition 1894" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 March 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
- ^ Sunterass, Anne Beggs (2003). "Contested Memories of Eureka: Museum Interpretations of the Eureka Stockade". Labour History. History Cooperative. Archived from the original on 26 April 2007. Retrieved 22 December 2006.
- ^ Protecting Victoria's Vulnerable Children Inquiry Report Archived 4 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations" (PDF). Family and Community Development Committee. Parliament of Victoria. July 2012. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 October 2013. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
- ^ Lee, Jane; Zwartz, Barney (11 October 2012). "Police slam Catholic Church". The Age. Australia. Archived from the original on 13 November 2012. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
- ^ McGregor, Ken (12 November 2012). "Pressure mounts for Royal Commission into sex abuse within the Catholic Church". The Australian. AAP. Archived from the original on 12 November 2012. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
- ^ Zivic, Marija; Morgan, Myles. "Child sexual abuse: 15,000 survivors to receive payouts". SBS News. Special Broadcasting Service. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
- ^ "Religious Institutions". Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Australian Government. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
- ^ "Catholic Church's 'failure' in Ballarat led to 'suffering, irreparable harm'". ABC News. 6 December 2017. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
- ^ Lee, Jane; Donelly, Beau (March 2016). "The priests and brothers who preyed on children". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
- ^ Farhl, Paul (13 December 2018). "An Australian court's gag order is no match for the Internet, as word gets out about prominent cardinal's conviction". The Washington Post. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
- ^ "George Pell guilty of sexually abusing choirboys". ABC News (Australia). Australia. 26 February 2019.
- ^ Younger, Emma (25 February 2019). "George Pell guilty of sexually abusing choirboys". ABC News. Australia. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
- ^ Chalkley-Rhoden, Stephanie (16 August 2017). "Melbourne crowned world's most liveable city for record seventh time". ABC News. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
- ^ "World's most liveable city 2014 is..." Cnn.com. 19 August 2014. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
- ^ ""SQUIZZY" TAYLOR. THE UNDERWORLD DANDY. CONVICTS HOSTILE". Trove. National Library of Australia. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
- ^ Cowan, Jane (10 August 2007). "Hoddle Street killer won't be forgotten". ABC News.
- ^ Murphy, Damien (10 December 1987). "Killer leaves trail of carnage". The Age. p. 6.
- ^ Flynn, A. "Carl Williams: Secret Deals and Bargained Justice – The Underworld of Victoria's Plea Bargaining System" (PDF).
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) (2007) 19(1) Current Issues in Criminal Justice 120. - TIME. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
- ^ Cooper, Adam (10 November 2017). "Andrew Lee could walk free in five years after one-punch assault that killed Patrick Cronin". The Age. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
- ^ Butt, Craig (20 January 2017). "As it happened: CBD horror, four dead, 31 hospitalised as car knocks down pedestrians". Theage.com.au. Retrieved 20 January 2017.
- ^ "Four dead in man's Melbourne crime spree". 9news.com. 20 January 2017. Retrieved 20 January 2017.
- ^ "Brighton siege: Melbourne police launch terror probe after deadly stand-off with Holsworthy plot gunman". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 6 June 2017. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
- ^ "Melbourne attack: Man shot dead after fire and fatal stabbing". BBC News. 9 November 2018. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
- ^ McNeill, Sophie; McGregor, Jeanavive; Carter, Lucy (5 November 2018). "If you're African and in court, 'rest assured your case will be reported on'". ABC News. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
- ^ "Victorians scared to go to restaurants at night because of street gang violence: Peter Dutton". Sydney Morning Herald. 3 January 2018. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
- ^ Karp, Paul (3 January 2018). "Peter Dutton says Victorians scared to go out because of 'African gang violence'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 14 November 2018. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
- ^ "Why the Calabrian mafia in Australia is so little recognised and understood". The Conversation. The Conversation Trust. 14 January 2016. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
- ^ Moor, Keith (14 March 2010). "Secret dossiers probed Godfathers behind Melbourne's mafia bloodshed in the 1960s". Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
- ^ Silvester, John (20 May 2016). "I infiltrated the Mafia – but at a terrible cost". The Age. Fairfax. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
- ^ Murphy, Allan. "Medici murder". Sunraysia Daily. Elliott Newspaper Group PTY Ltd. Archived from the original on 12 February 2019. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
- ^ Moor, Keith. "Mafia's dark secrets". Herald Sun. News Limited. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
- ^ Baker, Richard; McKenzie, Nick; McKenna, Jo (15 June 2012). "Italy convicts local Mafia". Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
- ^ Articles that refer to the Mallee/Mildura mafia connection:
- Moor, Keith. "Police have new leads in the 1984 Calabrian mafia murders of Rocco Medici and Giuseppe Furina". Herald Sun. News Limited. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
- Solomons, Mark (21 September 2018). "Drug trafficker owns operation at centre of strawberry scandal". Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
- ^ Articles about rural ice epidemic:
- "How many people use ice?". Cracks in the ice. Australian Government Department of Health. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
- Verghis, Sharon. "'We Are Ticking Time Bombs': Inside Australia's Meth Crisis". Time. Marc & Lynne Benioff. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
- King, Charlotte (31 October 2012). "Bikie gang 'hooking rural youth on ice'". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
- Baker, Richard; McKenzie, Nick (29 August 2013). "Ice use devastating rural Victoria". The Age. Fairfax. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
- Thals, Kaitlin. "Mildura project hailed a 'major success': Ice crush". Sunraysia Daily. Elliott ok. Archived from the original on 17 February 2019. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
- Percy, Karen (3 June 2015). "Government taskforce targets ice trade in Mildura". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
- Tran, Danny (31 October 2018). "Rural Victoria's ice crisis claims more victims as drugs trash towns". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
- Woodburn, Joanna (31 October 2016). "Ice use in rural Australia double that of metropolitan areas, drug report shows". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
- ^ "Former ADF sniper and Comancheros bikie boss sentenced to nine years' jail for drug trafficking". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Commission. 13 October 2015. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
- ^ "'Ice', cannabis, ecstasy seized in Mildura drug raids". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Commission. 14 July 2015. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
- ^ "Pair plead guilty over methamphetamines found buried in remote bushland at Tutye near Ouyen". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Commission. 18 September 2015. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
- ^ "Three arrested as police bust alleged conspiracy to fly ice from California to Australia". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Commission. 20 July 2017. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
