Questions relating to sexual assault are only asked of females aged 18 years and over, and include such things as whether they have been a victim of sexual assault in the last 12 months, how many times they were sexually assaulted, whether the police were told about the incident, reasons why the incident was not reported to police, the place where the incident occurred, whether a weapon was used, whether they were physically injured and whether or not the offender was known to them
A survey conducted by the ABS in 1996 collected information on women's safety from a random sample of 6,300 women across Australia aged 18 and over. The survey was the first of its kind in Australia, and measured the nature and extent of physical and sexual violence against women, the actions women took after experiencing violence, and the effect of this violence on their life. .
The Women's Safety Survey has helped develop national estimates on the nature and extent of sexual violence experienced by women in both the previous 12-month period and also from the age of 15 (ABS 1996b). The survey, however, only measured responses from women aged 18 and over, and so a large number of sexual assault offences against women under 18 were unrecorded, along with the assaults of men and young boys.
Although crime victim surveys produce more accurate estimates of incidence and prevalence rates than police statistics, and confirm that many offences are not reported to police, they too are acknowledged to underestimate violent crimes of an intimate nature, particularly sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse (Grabosky 1989; National Committee on Violence 1990). .
Several limitations of crime victim surveys as a means of measuring the extent of sexual violence have been identified:.
• Information gained by these surveys is limited by the questions asked,.
and the composition of the database. Both the Women's Safety Survey.
