Bisexual New Zealanders experience the highest level of crime and sexual violence according to the latest publication from the Ministry of Justice’s New Zealand Crime and Victims Survey (NZCVS).
The latest report found 68 percent of bisexual adults will experience interpersonal sexual violence over the course of their lives, compared to the New Zealand average of 29 percent.
“This is a very concerning figure that shows, for the first time, the disproportionate level of victimisation for the LGB+ community, and we hope our report will create awareness and a responsiveness to LGB experiences of family and sexual violence,” Ministry of Justice Deputy Secretary of Sector Tim Hampton says.
The report also found that 47 percent of bisexual adults are likely to experience crime over a 12-month period compared with 30 percent for the New Zealand average.
Lesbian or gay adults during their lifetime will experience more than double the rate of sexual violence from their partners at 33 percent compared to the New Zealand average of 16 percent.
“The NZCVS continues to shine a light on the nature of unreported crime in New Zealand,” Mr Hampton says. “As each of our general and topical reports show, there are many vulnerable communities that need our focus and support when it comes to crime and victimisation, and the LGB+ community is certainly one of them.”
The report is based on two NZCVS cycles running from March 2018 to September 2019, capturing data from 16,000 people over the age of 15 who were surveyed across the country.
“We share our findings across the justice sector with agencies such as the Police, Corrections and Oranga Tamariki to help improve experience of access to justice within the LGB+ community.”
For more information on these study results, see our Ministry of Justice website:
New Zealand Crime & Victims Survey resources and results
Contact: Alison Grant – 027 290 2119 or Media Phone: 04 918 8836
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About the NZCVS
The NZCVS is New Zealand’s largest and most comprehensive survey of crime, interviewing randomly selected 8,000 people over the age of 15 each year about their experiences of crime in the previous 12 months. Unlike other sources, which captures data such as reported crime, the NZCVS also captures unreported crime.
As well as the 'Experience of crime by sexual orientation' publication, the Ministry is also releasing two more publications, 'Victimisation of adults with psychological distress' and 'Victimisation of young adults'. All publications use data from the latest cycle of the NZCVS, which is New Zealand’s largest and most comprehensive survey of crime.
The Ministry chose these three topics because sexual orientation, psychological distress and young age are important factors which increase risk of victimisation, and we want to shine a light on these communities and the experiences they face.
The NZCVS methodology and key results are available on the Ministry of Justice website.
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