In the eye of the beholder: perceptions of social disorder in Australia

22 February 2012 | The ABS' recently published findings on perceptions surrounding social disorders that affect the community.

Effects of personal victimisation on perceptions of social disorder

Persons that experienced at least one incident of assault (physical, threatened, or sexual) or robbery in the 12 months preceding the survey perceived significantly higher levels of social disorder in their local area than persons not experiencing these offences.

A significantly larger proportion of victims of selected personal crimes perceived at least one social disorder issue in their local area (81.3%), compared to persons who did not report experiencing an incident of selected personal crimes (59.6%). Persons who experienced an incident of personal crime in the 12 months preceding the survey were significantly more likely than persons not experiencing an incident of personal crime to report all of the social disorder issues. Specifically, victims were more than three times as likely to identify people being insulted, pestered, or intimidated in the street (37.1% compared to 11.1%) and people using or dealing drugs (25.2% compared to 7.0%) as issues in their local area.