Attrition in sexual assault cases

Improved data collection in relation to the reporting and prosecution of sexual assault, including in a family violence context, is clearly desirable. Better statistics on attrition rates and outcomes in sexual assault cases are critical to identifying problems, and designing and monitoring solutions, in relation to how the criminal justice system deals with sexual assault.

Bodies like the Australian Centre for the Study of Sexual Assault (ACSSA) and the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC), along with state and territory counterparts, have an important role to play in this regard. One of the roles of ACSSA, in particular, is to ‘improve access to current information on sexual assault in order to assist policymakers and others interested in this area to develop evidence-based strategies that respond to, and ultimately reduce, the incidence of sexual assault’.