Bob_Church 7 #1 July 18, 2018 While watching the cave drama I started reading ABS (Australian Broadcasting System) on a regular basis. They've got good news reports for around the world and of course Australia. But something that really caught my eye was the extent of domestic violence in Australia. And it doesn't really seem to be getting any better. DV is a serious problem in the US but after a major change in attitudes in the 80s or so it really has been getting better. But not so down under. It's like reading about rural US in the 50s. https://www.whiteribbon.org.au/understand-domestic-violence/facts-violence-women/domestic-violence-statistics/ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JamesBond 0 #2 July 20, 2018 Hey Bob, Australian here. Yes when I read about domestic violence against women and rape stats here, I was taken aback. I believe our rates of other types of violent crimes are lower than yours though - not that I'm saying one is better or worse than the other. It's just how it's played out respectively I suppose. And just to clarify (not that it matters because I know what you meant) - the ABS is actually the Australian Bureau of Statistics - where I imagine we are getting our numbers from. The ABC is our Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and yes their news reports are generally good quality. You may find this link interesting: http://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/compare/Australia/United-States/Crime Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bob_Church 7 #3 July 20, 2018 JamesBondHey Bob, Australian here. Yes when I read about domestic violence against women and rape stats here, I was taken aback. I believe our rates of other types of violent crimes are lower than yours though - not that I'm saying one is better or worse than the other. It's just how it's played out respectively I suppose. And just to clarify (not that it matters because I know what you meant) - the ABS is actually the Australian Bureau of Statistics - where I imagine we are getting our numbers from. The ABC is our Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and yes their news reports are generally good quality. You may find this link interesting: http://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/compare/Australia/United-States/Crime Yep, ABC, got those backwards. Thanks, They have good international reporting which I like. And I do enjoy local stories, like following a link about something odd to some town's local paper then reading the local news. About the domestic violence. Is it pretty much even throughout the population in Australia or particularly bad in some parts of the population? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JamesBond 0 #4 July 21, 2018 Bob_ChurchAbout the domestic violence. Is it pretty much even throughout the population in Australia or particularly bad in some parts of the population? It's hard to say. Unlike the US, Australia has a small population over a large land mass, but highly concentrated in coastal cities - led, by far, by Sydney (where I am) and Melbourne. I would've thought that domestic violence rates would be higher in the congested city areas, but the data (for NSW anyway, the eastern state where Sydney is capital) suggests that DV is worse out in the outback: http://crimetool.bocsar.nsw.gov.au/bocsar/ There seems to be a correlation between rates of assault and economic power across the state. Sydney and other NSW coastal hubs have seemingly lower rates of assault compared to more inland regions. In hindsight, this isn't terribly surprising. I think Bob, you may have seen a somewhat biased news report if your takeaway was that Australia's domestic violence rates are comparable to America's in the 1950s or so. The stats between Australia and America more recently are quite similar (https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/nisvs_report2010-a.pdf), so I assume there was a little sensationalism in the report you saw. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bob_Church 7 #5 July 21, 2018 JamesBond***About the domestic violence. Is it pretty much even throughout the population in Australia or particularly bad in some parts of the population? It's hard to say. Unlike the US, Australia has a small population over a large land mass, but highly concentrated in coastal cities - led, by far, by Sydney (where I am) and Melbourne. I would've thought that domestic violence rates would be higher in the congested city areas, but the data (for NSW anyway, the eastern state where Sydney is capital) suggests that DV is worse out in the outback: http://crimetool.bocsar.nsw.gov.au/bocsar/ There seems to be a correlation between rates of assault and economic power across the state. Sydney and other NSW coastal hubs have seemingly lower rates of assault compared to more inland regions. In hindsight, this isn't terribly surprising. I think Bob, you may have seen a somewhat biased news report if your takeaway was that Australia's domestic violence rates are comparable to America's in the 1950s or so. The stats between Australia and America more recently are quite similar (https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/nisvs_report2010-a.pdf), so I assume there was a little sensationalism in the report you saw. That's why I was wondering about the regional thing. It wasn't clear if they were talking about Australia in general or specific places. We have places in the US that fit the same description, alcohol banned but smuggled in, sexual assault and violence epidemic, but while those things do happen everywhere not at anything like the rate in those places. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites