Police Reports of Violence Against Australian Children Rose Sharply, Study Finds

Violence against children in Australia increased between 2014 and 2024, University of Sydney researchers reported on 13 October 2026.

The team analysed three Australian national agency databases covering police-recorded assaults, hospitalisations for assault, and child protection data. The study was published in JAMA Network Open. Looking at three separate official record systems, instead of one, allowed comparison across different ways of counting cases The Guardian.

Police-recorded sexual assault accounted for much of the rise. Rates rose by 2.8% per year for girls aged up to nine across the study period and by 4.2% per year for girls aged 10 to 17. Rates for boys aged 10 to 17 took a different path, with a sharp acceleration after 2021 and a rise of 15.7%.

Family violence-related assaults against children showed a similar change. Rates were stable or rose only modestly before 2021, then climbed steeply after that year. In contrast, assault-related hospitalisations and child maltreatment rates were generally stable across the decade.

These record systems measure different things. Police data count reports made to and recorded by police. Hospital and child protection data count different levels of harm and different agency responses. Stability in one set of records alongside growth in another does not by itself show whether actual violence, reporting by victims, or police recording practice changed.

The authors said more reporting linked to growing awareness could partly explain the higher police figures. They said the overall increase could not be traced to any single factor. They named income inequality, economic stress, and misogynistic online communities and toxic masculinity narratives as possible contributing factors.

Lead author Dr Lucy Grummitt said the team had expected violence against children to fall, in line with other high-income countries. The Australian data showed the opposite pattern.

In 2024, 56% of recorded sexual assault victims, about 22,400 people, were aged under 18 at the time of the incident Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

The broader context here is why the post-2021 break deserves close attention from policymakers and services. A steady yearly rise calls for one kind of response. A faster rise after a specific year raises different questions about household stress, help-seeking, police recording, and online environments, without letting one explanation carry the full weight.

In my view, the value of the study is comparison across sources. Three national databases, each with its own rules and gaps, were read together like separate lenses on the same problem. Police-recorded sexual and family violence assaults rose while hospital and maltreatment figures held steady. That points future work toward reporting patterns, how offences are classified, and harms that do not lead to hospital admission, as well as underlying levels of violence. Yearly changes in recorded offences are not a direct count of lived experience. Greater awareness can raise disclosure. Economic stress can raise risk. Online misogyny can shape attitudes and actions. Each path is plausible. None is shown here as a cause. That caution against single-factor blame should shape how agencies, researchers and legislators use the results for funding, prevention and criminal justice responses.