Last year I spoke with a young woman who urgently wanted to share her story, saying: “I don’t want what happened to me to happen to anyone else.”
Sarah* detailed her appalling experience of our legal and justice system. She disclosed the impact of repeated and distressing delays in court appearances, often at the last minute – which had serious impacts on her mental health, and ultimately leading to her quitting the job she loved. She told me the prosecuting lawyer changed multiple times, often discovered this only when she turned up to court and was met by a different person. Sarah shared her distress at how, like all sexual violence victims, she had no one in court representing her – our system viewed her merely as a ‘witness’ to her rape. I was shocked when she said to me that she is now afraid to leave her home alone – not because she is afraid of being raped, but because she doesn’t ever want to go through the traumatic experience of our legal system again.
I have heard similar experiences from women across the country. Women report inadequate responses from different parts of the system leaving them further traumatised, disengaged and unable to heal and recover. One woman expressed deep regret about reporting her sexual assault. Another described ‘being killed slowly and systematically through the destruction of her life, autonomy and basic human rights.'
In 2023 the rates of sexual violence reported to police reached a 31-year high, despite the incredible efforts of our front-line workforce. We must do better to change this trajectory.
Data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare tells a grim story. Since 2010, reported sexual assaults against women have increased by 58%, with reported sexual assault against men increasing by 65% in the same period. 1 in 5 women, and 1 in 16 men have experienced sexual violence since the age of 15.
Sadly, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Only 7.7% of women who experienced sexual assault in the 10 years before 2021-22 reported their most recent incident to the police. This makes sexual violence one of the most underreported crimes in the country.
Early last year, the Government asked the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) to inquire into justice responses to sexual violence in Australia. The ALRC has recently provided its report to the Attorney-General. This inquiry represents a crucial opportunity to improve our justice and systems responses, so that they are providing justice and enabling healing. So that we are holding those who commit sex crimes accountable and intervening to prevent sexual violence happening.
Real change will require cultural transformation – within law enforcement, the courts, and the broader community. Too often, we hear sexual violence minimised, dismissed, or ignored. This is not just a failure of our laws - it is a societal failure.
Most sexual assault offenders (97%) are men. If we are serious about ending sexual violence, we need to do more to understand why some men commitment sexual violence. Understanding the pathways into this behaviour will help us understand the most effective ways to intervene and prevent sexual violence. We are seeing disturbing increases in harmful sexual behaviours in young people, and sexual violence being committed at younger ages. We need to understand why this is happening and support evidence-informed interventions to turn this around.
We must do better. We have a responsibility to regain the community’s trust - people need to feel confident that if they report to the police they will be listened to with compassion and that they will see actions taken to achieve justice.
*Name has been changed to protect privacy
This article, written by Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commissioner Micaela Cronin, was first published by The Guardian Australia.
