More women perpetrating domestic violence: statistics

In the 12 months to September 2003 police recorded 4918 women as persons of interest for perpetrating domestic violence. By 2006-07 that had risen to 6056, figures from the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research show.

Of the women arrested for domestic violence-related assault in the five years to last September only 32 per cent of the cases reached court, compared with 56 per cent of cases involving men, statistics show.

The bureau's director, Don Weatherburn, said the increase was likely to have been driven by more than one factor. Others could include an increase in binge drinking, or more men who were willing to admit they are victims.

"It's possible that people are becoming less tolerant of violence by females than they used to be," he said. More women are also being arrested for assault not related to domestic violence, which some attribute to a rise in alcohol abuse. Others say women can be as violent as men, and that in more than half of violent partnerships partners struck each other.