Victoria Crime Trends

Aditi Dagdu

2025-06-11

Is Crime in Victoria Really Going Down?

Or are our perceptions of safety just a comforting illusion?

🛑 Victoria is often ranked among the safest, most livable places in the world.
But In 2024 alone, more than 600,000 criminal offences were officially recorded.

But what is this line really telling us?

While some years show a dip, the overall crime volume remains alarmingly high.

2021 may have seen the lowest point in the decade,
but by 2024, criminal offences have soared past 600,000. 🔍 Are we genuinely safer — or just more comfortable with crime?

Not all crimes follow the same trend some are rising fast while others decline quietly.

  • Crimes against the person are steadily increasing, with a sharp surge in 2024.
  • Property and deception offences still dominate the volume, but with fluctuations.
  • Public order offences have dropped, yet is that due to fewer crimes or lower enforcement?

Crimes against the person like assault, robbery, and family violence have been rising across Victoria.

In 2024 alone, over 80,000 such offences were recorded.

These aren’t just numbers they represent people hurt, lives changed, and communities shaken.

What Could Be Fueling This Rise in Violence? Could population growth, reporting changes, or community stressors be playing a role? It’s not just about numbers, it’s about what’s behind them. When we adjust for population, some offence rates still trend upward, especially for assault and sexual offences. So the rise in violence isn’t just about more people… It’s about more incidents per person.

What This Tells Us

Crime data isn’t just about rising numbers, it’s about the stories they represent.

  • We saw sharp increases in violent offences like assault and sexual violence.
  • Even after adjusting for population, rates remain concerning.
  • The gap between reported rates and actual counts hints at challenges in reporting, classification, or public trust.

It’s not just crime on the rise, it’s visibility, reporting, and impact.

Conclusion

Over the last decade, violent crimes in Victoria have not just increased in number but they’ve become a more frequent part of everyday life. While improvements in data collection may explain some of this trend,
the numbers show real increases in assault, harassment, and sexual violence.

📢 Understanding is the first step.
We can’t reduce what we don’t track.
We can’t prevent what we don’t acknowledge.

References & Data Notes

📚 References:
Crime Statistics Agency. (2024). Recorded offences - Year ending December 2024 [Data file]. https://www.crimestatistics.vic.gov.au/crime-statistics/latest-crime-data/year-ending-december-2024

💡 About the Data:
The data was sourced from the Crime Statistics Agency Victoria’s official Excel for the year ending December 2024. The dataset includes detailed offence counts by division, subdivision, and demographic breakdowns.