Research by the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) has failed to find an increase in domestic violence in NSW resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.
In its report, Has domestic violence increased in the wake of COVID-19 social distancing measures? BOCSAR says it’s possible the statistics reflected a fall in domestic violence reporting during social isolation.
“It is possible that an increase has been masked by isolation strategies affecting victim willingness or ability to seek assistance from police,” the Bureau said.
“Were this to be the case, we would still expect the most serious forms of physical domestic violence (i.e. murder and assault resulting in grievous bodily harm) to come to police attention as these offences are not as sensitive to discretionary reporting,” it said.
“The volume of extremely serious domestic violence offences recorded by police in April 2020, however are comparable with 2019 counts.”
BOCSAR said calls to the NSW Domestic Violence Line had increased in 2020, but the increase pre-dated social isolation measures and showed no evidence of a COVID-19 related increase.
Executive Director of BOCSAR, Jackie Fitzgerald said that while there was no evidence to suggest social isolation measures had increased domestic violence, the Bureau couldn’t rule out an increase in unreported domestic violence.
“If there were an increase in unreported domestic violence that didn’t result in serious physical injury, it would not be apparent in this study,” Ms Fitzgerald said.
BOCSAR’s seven-page report can be accessed at this PS News link.
