WEL notes the recent release of a study conducted by the Australian Institute of Criminology by Jason Payne and Anthony Morgan. This study Prevalence of recorded family and domestic violence offending: A birth cohort study, makes reference to the fact that research to date has shown that most offenders are men, that offending is concentrated in lower socio-economic communities, that alcohol at the time of offence is common, that prior offending and re-offending is common, and that domestic violence offences and harm are concentrated in a relatively small group of offenders. 

The study then goes on to say that there is much less information about the prevalence of perpetration. There is no national data. This study is a birth cohort study from recorded data in NSW.  In its discussion, it concludes that recorded offending was much higher for males than females, with nearly one in 10 males and one in 33 females born in NSW proceeded against by police by age 37... There are important qualitative differences in the drivers and severity of offending by female and male perpetrators. The data further indicate that 2.0 percent of men born in NSW accounted for 45.4% of all family and domestic violence offences. 

WEL would welcome further research on perpetration in all its forms given that many non-physical forms of violence are rarely reported. The impact of coercive control legislation is not yet being measured or reflected in the police recorded crime data.