For this assignment, I will be using data obtained from the Crime Statistics Agency to show an overview of domestic violence cases involving children from July 2017 to June 2022.
According to the Magistrates’ Court of Victoria, family violence consists of harmful behaviour that is used to control, threaten, force or dominate a family member through fear. It includes: physical acts resulting in harm, sexual abuse, and emotional or psychological abuse. If a child hears, sees or is around family violence in any way then that constitutes as child abuse even if the target of abuse is not the child.
The Victorian Child Protection Program is a welfare service that provides assistance to vulnerable children who are suspected of being abused or neglected. They will perform an investigation together with the police on a reported incident and upon completion of the investigation will then submit an application to the proper authorities should child abuse be proven.
As you can see from the map to the left, it shows the location for the Children’s Court of Victoria. This legal institution deals with proceedings concerning individuals under the age of 17 and issues verdicts for Family Violence Intervention Order (equivalent to domestic violence) applications, among them applications submitted by the Victorian Child Protection Program on behalf of vulnerable children.
This graph shows the number of cases being investigated by the Victorian Child Protection Program on the left and the number of applications submitted upon a successful investigation yielding enough evidence to the Children’s Court on the right.
As you can see in the comparison, the number of investigations are almost double the number of applications. Domestic violence is a rather tricky subject and an investigation regarding it may take a long time. There are times where the abuser may get protected by other family members and thus it increases the duration to find evidence. Sometimes, both parents are involved in the neglect of their child and that is why the Victorian Child Protection Program submits applications on behalf of the child to remove them from the unsafe environment and into foster care. Regarding the number of applications, the number can be limited by court hearing dates and whether a judge is available to pass the verdict as per the law.
I have added 3 fields to the stacked bar charts: the total overall number, the number of cases where the child is male and the number of cases where the child is female. There does not appear to be much difference in numbers between genders and there also does not appear to be any noticeable trends across the years other than an observation where less applications are submitted to the Children’s Court for processing during 2021-2022. This may indicate that child abuse cases have been decreasing but I have doubts as the number of investigations for that year is still rather high at roughly 35000.
This graph shows the breakdown between ages for the children under a Family Violence Intervention Order (basically a restraining order against their abuser). The ages range from under a year old to 17 years old and is split between male on the left and female on the right. Overall, the most frequent age group on average between both genders is age 10-14 being under the protection of the intervention order.
Another interesting observation that can be see is that female children are more likely than male children to be under the intervention order. On that same note, males in the age group of 15-17 are much lower in numbers compared to females in the same age group which makes sense as male teenagers in that age range are likely to have more capability to escape their abuse.
This graph shows the number of applications submitted based on the police region in the city of Melbourne, Victoria. Unknown in the graph indicates that the applications come from outside Melbourne in the rural areas but are still under the jurisdiction of Melbourne police. An immediate observation can be made that recently from 2020-2022 the number of applications has gone up rather noticeably across all 5 zones. 2020-2022 is the time period when COVID-19 was a major world-wide affecting pandemic and that event became a leading cause in the increase in divorce rates world wide due to restrictions and lockdowns.
It is thus no surprise that the number of applications for an intervention order increases. Short tempers in a small environment would lead to arguments and even physical altercations. As mentioned before, these incidents in the presence of a child count as child abuse according to the law.
This graph shows the gender breakdown of the respondents that the Family Violence Intervention Order is issued towards. As you can see, the number of applications with a male respondent is nearly double that of female respondents over the course of 5 years.
In conclusion,
the most frequent age group on average between both genders is age 10-14 being under intervention order
female children are more likely than male children to be under intervention order
males in the age group of 15-17 are much lower in numbers compared to females in the same age group
the number of applications increases moderately during 2020-2022, possibly due to COVID-19 stresses
male parents are twice more likely to be an abuser compared to female parents
References
---
title: "Assignment 3 Storyboarding"
author: "Enson Sim, s3952024"
output:
flexdashboard::flex_dashboard:
#orientation: columns
#vertical_layout: fill
storyboard: true
social: menu
source: embed
---
```{r setup, include=FALSE}
library(flexdashboard)
library(plotly)
library(leaflet)
library(rsconnect)
#rsconnect::setAccountInfo(name='s3952024eszk',token='5408370442D99B8AD0C29DDF7A352B2C',secret='qATuoOIbqDe3o5HvcNrj4dJm5MXohis58rRVtFmQ')
#rsconnect::deployApp()
investigating <- data.frame(Year=c("2017-2018","2018-2019","2019-2020","2020-2021","2021-2022"),Total=c(33591,37568,34401,33087,35209),Male=c(17019,19040,17325,16680,17574),Female=c(16572,18528,17076,16407,17635),stringsAsFactors=FALSE)
processing <- data.frame(Year=c("2017-2018","2018-2019","2019-2020","2020-2021","2021-2022"),Total=c(18538,20482,18605,16724,15963),Male=c(9280,10306,9439,8376,7989),Female=c(9258,10176,9166,8348,7974),stringsAsFactors=FALSE)
agesM <- data.frame(Age=c("00-04","05-09","10-14","15-17"),"2017-2018"=c(95,109,187,127),"2018-2019"=c(91,119,227,115),"2019-2020"=c(96,134,221,99),"2020-2021"=c(113,146,253,129),"2021-2022"=c(88,140,246,132),stringsAsFactors=FALSE)
agesF <- data.frame(Age=c("00-04","05-09","10-14","15-17"),"2017-2018"=c(90,127,238,251),"2018-2019"=c(73,122,238,280),"2019-2020"=c(96,124,249,257),"2020-2021"=c(80,122,301,277),"2021-2022"=c(86,153,306,321),stringsAsFactors=FALSE)
region <- data.frame(Area=c("Eastern","Western","North West Metro","Southern Metro","Unknown"),"2017-2018"=c(637,593,678,424,24),"2018-2019"=c(636,687,683,490,11),"2019-2020"=c(641,731,646,480,16),"2020-2021"=c(753,802,714,483,24),"2021-2022"=c(743,850,726,592,35),stringsAsFactors=FALSE)
agressor <- data.frame(Year=c("2017-2018","2018-2019","2019-2020","2020-2021","2021-2022"),Total=c(1743,1881,1839,2035,2232),Male=c(1237,1315,1250,1426,1478),Female=c(506,565,586,608,755),stringsAsFactors=FALSE)
```
### An introduction on the subject matter of this assignment
```{r}
leaflet() %>%
addTiles() %>%
addMarkers(lng=144.9583, lat=-37.8125, popup="The Children's Court of Victoria")
```
------------------------------------------------------------------------
For this assignment, I will be using data obtained from the Crime Statistics Agency to show an overview of domestic violence cases involving children from July 2017 to June 2022.
According to the Magistrates' Court of Victoria, family violence consists of harmful behaviour that is used to control, threaten, force or dominate a family member through fear. It includes: physical acts resulting in harm, sexual abuse, and emotional or psychological abuse. If a child hears, sees or is around family violence in any way then that constitutes as child abuse even if the target of abuse is not the child.
The Victorian Child Protection Program is a welfare service that provides assistance to vulnerable children who are suspected of being abused or neglected. They will perform an investigation together with the police on a reported incident and upon completion of the investigation will then submit an application to the proper authorities should child abuse be proven.
As you can see from the map to the left, it shows the location for the Children's Court of Victoria. This legal institution deals with proceedings concerning individuals under the age of 17 and issues verdicts for Family Violence Intervention Order (equivalent to domestic violence) applications, among them applications submitted by the Victorian Child Protection Program on behalf of vulnerable children.
### Data from the Victorian Child Protection Program
```{r}
fig1 <- plot_ly(investigating,x=~Year,y=~Total,type="bar",name="Total")
fig1 <- fig1 %>% add_trace(y=~Male,name="Male")
fig1 <- fig1 %>% add_trace(y=~Female,name="Female")
fig1 <- fig1 %>% layout(yaxis=list(title="Cases"),barmode="stack")
fig2 <- plot_ly(processing,x=~Year,y=~Total,type="bar",name="Total")
fig2 <- fig2 %>% add_trace(y=~Male,name="Male")
fig2 <- fig2 %>% add_trace(y=~Female,name="Female")
fig2 <- fig2 %>% layout(yaxis=list(title="Applications"),barmode="stack")
#fig1
#fig2
fig <- subplot(fig1,fig2) %>% layout(title="Cases / Applications")
fig
```
------------------------------------------------------------------------
This graph shows the number of cases being investigated by the Victorian Child Protection Program on the left and the number of applications submitted upon a successful investigation yielding enough evidence to the Children's Court on the right.
As you can see in the comparison, the number of investigations are almost double the number of applications. Domestic violence is a rather tricky subject and an investigation regarding it may take a long time. There are times where the abuser may get protected by other family members and thus it increases the duration to find evidence. Sometimes, both parents are involved in the neglect of their child and that is why the Victorian Child Protection Program submits applications on behalf of the child to remove them from the unsafe environment and into foster care. Regarding the number of applications, the number can be limited by court hearing dates and whether a judge is available to pass the verdict as per the law.
I have added 3 fields to the stacked bar charts: the total overall number, the number of cases where the child is male and the number of cases where the child is female. There does not appear to be much difference in numbers between genders and there also does not appear to be any noticeable trends across the years other than an observation where less applications are submitted to the Children's Court for processing during 2021-2022. This may indicate that child abuse cases have been decreasing but I have doubts as the number of investigations for that year is still rather high at roughly 35000.
### Children's Court Applications Age and Gender Overview
```{r}
fig3 <- plot_ly(agesM,x=~Age,y=~X2017.2018,type="bar",name="2017-2018")
fig3 <- fig3 %>% add_trace(y=~X2018.2019,name="2018-2019")
fig3 <- fig3 %>% add_trace(y=~X2019.2020,name="2019-2020")
fig3 <- fig3 %>% add_trace(y=~X2020.2021,name="2020-2021")
fig3 <- fig3 %>% add_trace(y=~X2021.2022,name="2021-2022")
fig4 <- plot_ly(agesF,x=~Age,y=~X2017.2018,type="bar",name="2017-2018")
fig4 <- fig4 %>% add_trace(y=~X2018.2019,name="2018-2019")
fig4 <- fig4 %>% add_trace(y=~X2019.2020,name="2019-2020")
fig4 <- fig4 %>% add_trace(y=~X2020.2021,name="2020-2021")
fig4 <- fig4 %>% add_trace(y=~X2021.2022,name="2021-2022")
#fig3
#fig4
fig0 <- subplot(fig3,fig4) %>% layout(title="Male / Female")
fig0
```
------------------------------------------------------------------------
This graph shows the breakdown between ages for the children under a Family Violence Intervention Order (basically a restraining order against their abuser). The ages range from under a year old to 17 years old and is split between male on the left and female on the right. Overall, the most frequent age group on average between both genders is age 10-14 being under the protection of the intervention order.
Another interesting observation that can be see is that female children are more likely than male children to be under the intervention order. On that same note, males in the age group of 15-17 are much lower in numbers compared to females in the same age group which makes sense as male teenagers in that age range are likely to have more capability to escape their abuse.
### Applications Made per Police Region
```{r}
fig5 <- plot_ly(region,x=~Area,y=~X2017.2018,type="bar",name="2017-2018")
fig5 <- fig5 %>% add_trace(y=~X2018.2019,name="2018-2019")
fig5 <- fig5 %>% add_trace(y=~X2019.2020,name="2019-2020")
fig5 <- fig5 %>% add_trace(y=~X2020.2021,name="2020-2021")
fig5 <- fig5 %>% add_trace(y=~X2021.2022,name="2021-2022")
fig5 <- fig5 %>% layout(yaxis=list(title="Applications"),title="Police Region where Application is Made",barmode="group")
fig5
```
------------------------------------------------------------------------
This graph shows the number of applications submitted based on the police region in the city of Melbourne, Victoria. Unknown in the graph indicates that the applications come from outside Melbourne in the rural areas but are still under the jurisdiction of Melbourne police. An immediate observation can be made that recently from 2020-2022 the number of applications has gone up rather noticeably across all 5 zones. 2020-2022 is the time period when COVID-19 was a major world-wide affecting pandemic and that event became a leading cause in the increase in divorce rates world wide due to restrictions and lockdowns.
It is thus no surprise that the number of applications for an intervention order increases. Short tempers in a small environment would lead to arguments and even physical altercations. As mentioned before, these incidents in the presence of a child count as child abuse according to the law.
### One more thing + the Conclusion
```{r}
fig6 <- plot_ly(agressor,x=~Year,y=~Male,type="bar",name="Male")
fig6 <- fig6 %>% add_trace(y=~Female,name="Female")
fig6 <- fig6 %>% layout(yaxis=list(title="Applications"),title="Gender of Respondent That Application is Made Against",barmode="group")
fig6
```
------------------------------------------------------------------------
This graph shows the gender breakdown of the respondents that the Family Violence Intervention Order is issued towards. As you can see, the number of applications with a male respondent is nearly double that of female respondents over the course of 5 years.
In conclusion,
- the most frequent age group on average between both genders is age 10-14 being under intervention order
- female children are more likely than male children to be under intervention order
- males in the age group of 15-17 are much lower in numbers compared to females in the same age group
- the number of applications increases moderately during 2020-2022, possibly due to COVID-19 stresses
- male parents are twice more likely to be an abuser compared to female parents
[**References**]{.underline}
<https://www.crimestatistics.vic.gov.au/family-violence-data-portal/family-violence-data-dashboard/victorian-child-protection>
<https://www.crimestatistics.vic.gov.au/family-violence-data-portal/family-violence-data-dashboard/childrens-court>