Adolescent family violence is a growing concern, according to numbers released by the independent Crime Statistics Agency.
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Wendouree and Sebastopol are among the top 20 regional towns for the number of incidents recorded between July 2018 and June 2019, while the City of Ballarat as a whole is ranked 18th highest for the rate of incidents per 100,000 population.
The study, using police data, shows the number of incidents recorded had increased by 11.8 per cent over the past five years.
The primary aggressor, in regional communities, was male 65.8 per cent of the time, and the affected family member was female 74.7 per cent of the time.
The affected family member was a parent 55.2 per cent of the time in regional communities.
The study indicated teenagers who had been exposed to family violence previously were more likely to commit family violence themselves, according to CSA chief statistician Fiona Dowsley.
"Our research found that over half of adolescent aggressors of family violence had prior contact with police as a witness or victim-survivor of a family violence incident, or with courts as a protected person on a Family Violence Intervention Order," she said in a media release.
"These results provide further evidence to support that many adolescent aggressors of family violence were exposed to family violence as a child or young person.
"Exposure to family violence was also found to be significantly associated with family violence recidivism in adolescents."
Head of the Central Highlands Family Violence Investigation Unit, Detective Senior Sergeant Tony Coxall, told The Courier there had been a slight increase in adolescent family violence recorded, but police were taking action, and there were programs in the community to help aggressors from support agencies.
"A number of serious incidents involving parent/sibling relationships have become evident particularly over the past six months and I note the released data ends June 2019," he said in a statement.
"In the regional area and in particular our response zone FVIU have partnered with Youth Support Officers to work directly with AFV victims and perpetrators.
"Locally the rate does appear high in comparison to some metropolitan areas.
"At this point in time I think it is difficult to quantify reasons for this increase but confidence in reporting and in the support agency services provided is continuing to rise."
The full report is available online.
- If you or someone you know needs help, phone 1800 RESPECT, or Lifeline on 13 11 14.
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