Research Library: Violence, Abuse, Consent & Safety
Evidence should strengthen advocacyGood advocacy needs more than powerful words. It needs evidence.
This library brings together research, national datasets, inquiries, policy documents, evaluations and credible sector resources relevant to domestic, family and sexual violence, child sexual abuse, coercive control, prevention, justice, perpetrator accountability, trauma and recovery.
Its purpose is not to tell readers what to think. It is to make credible evidence easier to find, examine and use.
DISCLAIMER
About this library
The Safety From Violence Is A Right™ Research Library is provided for general information, education and advocacy.
Inclusion of a resource does not necessarily mean SFV endorses every conclusion, interpretation or recommendation contained within it.
Research and policy environments change. Readers should check the original source and publication date before relying on information for professional, legal, clinical, policy or academic purposes.
This library does not provide legal, medical, psychological or crisis advice.
INTRODUCTION
Follow the evidence, not just the headline
Statistics about violence are frequently quoted without enough context.
A number can change depending on the population studied, the definition of violence used, the period measured, the questions asked, the data source and whether an incident was reported to authorities.
Research should help us understand complexity rather than remove it.
Safety From Violence Is A Right™ aims to link claims back to credible original sources wherever possible and to distinguish between research findings, administrative data, policy positions, lived experience and commentary.
No single study should be treated as the final word on a complex issue.
Evidence grows. Definitions change. New data becomes available. Findings can be challenged, refined or superseded.
A credible research library should make room for that.
START WITH NATIONAL EVIDENCE
Key Australian evidence sources
These organisations and projects are useful starting points when researching violence, abuse, safety and prevention in Australia.
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
The AIHW brings together national data on family, domestic and sexual violence from multiple Australian sources and regularly updates key measures.
Useful for prevalence, hospitalisations, service responses, intimate partner violence, family violence, sexual violence and population level data.
Australian Bureau of Statistics
The ABS Personal Safety Survey is one of Australia's major national sources of information about experiences of violence, abuse, sexual harassment and stalking.
The survey also provides important methodological information that should be considered when interpreting prevalence statistics.
ANROWS
Australia's National Research Organisation for Women's Safety produces and commissions research on domestic, family and sexual violence and provides evidence for policy and practice.
Its resources include research reports, evidence summaries, the National Community Attitudes towards Violence against Women Survey and research concerning people who use violence.
Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commission
The Commission monitors progress under Australia's national response to domestic, family and sexual violence and reports to Parliament.
Its Yearly Reports provide an important source for understanding national priorities, systemic gaps and emerging areas requiring reform. The 2026 report identified the family law and justice systems and sexual violence as two persistent areas of harm requiring national attention.
National Office for Child Safety
The National Office leads national priorities relating to the prevention of and response to child sexual abuse.
Its work includes the National Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Child Sexual Abuse, data and evaluation initiatives, a national data dashboard and development of the Child Safety Research Agenda.
Australian Child Maltreatment Study
The Australian Child Maltreatment Study provides major Australian evidence about childhood experiences of physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, neglect and exposure to domestic violence.
Its findings provide important insight into prevalence, overlapping forms of maltreatment, impacts and patterns of perpetration.
Australian Institute of Criminology
The AIC publishes criminal justice research relating to family and domestic violence, sexual violence, offending, homicide, victimisation and justice responses.
Its National Homicide Monitoring Program is particularly important when examining domestic and family violence related deaths.
Our Watch
Our Watch produces research, evidence frameworks and resources focused primarily on the prevention of violence against women.
Its resources include the Change the Story framework, prevention evidence, national progress tracking and practical guidance for prevention work.
eSafety Commissioner
The eSafety Commissioner provides research and evidence concerning technology facilitated abuse, online sexual harm, image based abuse, coercive control involving technology and the experiences of children and young people online.
Research has also examined the role technology can play within domestic and family violence.
INTERNATIONAL EVIDENCE
Looking beyond Australia
Australian evidence should generally be prioritised when making claims specifically about the Australian population, legal system or service environment.
International research can still provide valuable comparative evidence, identify emerging issues and contribute to understanding violence across different populations and systems.
World Health Organization
WHO publishes global and national evidence on violence against women as a public health and human rights issue, including prevalence estimates for intimate partner violence and non-partner sexual violence.
UN Women
UN Women's research and data resources cover violence against women and girls, prevention, laws, policy responses, services and international measures.
Its Global Database on Violence against Women and Girls provides information about government responses across countries and territories.
UNICEF
UNICEF provides international data and research concerning violence against children, including sexual violence in childhood and the challenges involved in measuring it consistently across countries.
COMMUNITY ATTITUDES
What Australians believe matters too
Community attitudes can influence whether violence is recognised, whether victim-survivors are believed, whether people intervene and whether harmful behaviour is minimised or excused.
The National Community Attitudes towards Violence against Women Survey provides population level evidence about Australians' understanding of violence, attitudes towards it and willingness to intervene.
The survey has been conducted periodically, allowing changes in community attitudes to be examined over time.
READING RESEARCH
Before quoting a statistic
A statistic can be technically accurate while still being presented misleadingly.
Before repeating a figure, ask:
Who was studied?
Was the research about adults, children, women, men, a particular community, service users, offenders or the general population?
A finding about one population should not automatically be presented as applying to everyone.
What was actually measured?
Terms such as violence, abuse, sexual violence, intimate partner violence and coercive control may be defined differently between studies.
Check the definition before comparing figures.
What period does the statistic cover?
Lifetime prevalence is different from experiences during the previous year.
Violence since age 15 is different from violence occurring during childhood.
Police recorded incidents are different from population prevalence.
Where did the data come from?
Survey data, police reports, hospital records, court data, service records and qualitative interviews answer different questions.
No single dataset captures every experience of violence.
How large and representative was the sample?
Consider who participated and who may have been excluded or underrepresented.
A national representative survey should not be treated in the same way as a small convenience sample.
Both can provide valuable information, but they provide different kinds of evidence.
Does the study show causation?
Finding that two things are associated does not automatically establish that one caused the other.
Look at what the researchers actually concluded.
What are the limitations?
Credible research usually identifies its own limitations.
Those limitations should not be removed when findings are used in advocacy.
USING EVIDENCE RESPONSIBLY
Context matters
Evidence should inform advocacy, not become a weapon for proving a predetermined argument.
At SFV, responsible use of research means:
- linking to the original source wherever possible
- distinguishing research findings from interpretation or opinion
- avoiding selective statistics that materially distort the broader findings
- checking whether newer evidence has become available
- identifying the population and jurisdiction being discussed
- distinguishing prevalence estimates from police, court or service data
- recognising limitations identified by researchers
- avoiding claims of causation where research establishes only an association
- acknowledging credible disagreement or uncertainty where it exists
- correcting information when stronger or newer evidence requires it
Evidence is strongest when readers can see where a claim came from and examine it for themselves.
SOURCE STANDARD
Australian government agencies
Including national statistics, monitoring reports, inquiries, regulatory bodies and government commissioned research.
Recognised research organisations
Including specialist national research bodies and established university research centres.
Peer reviewed research
Particularly systematic reviews, large population studies, longitudinal research and well designed evaluations.
Royal commissions, parliamentary inquiries and law reform bodies
These may provide extensive evidence, testimony, analysis and recommendations concerning systemic problems.
Established specialist organisations
Sector organisations may be included where their work is evidence informed, transparent and relevant to the subject.
Reputable international institutions
Including WHO, UNICEF, UN Women and other established international research and public health institutions.
SELECTION PRINCIPLES
SELECTION PRINCIPLES
A source is not included simply because SFV agrees with it
Research should be assessed on the strength of the source and evidence, not whether its conclusions support a particular advocacy position.
Different findings may be included
Credible research does not always reach identical conclusions.
Where significant disagreement exists, the library may include different perspectives rather than presenting one study as settled evidence.
Publication does not make research infallible
Peer review is an important quality indicator, but no research method is perfect.
Methodology, sample, definitions, limitations and subsequent evidence still matter.
Older research may remain important
Publication date matters, but older research is not automatically irrelevant.
Some reports remain foundational.
Where more recent evidence has superseded an older statistic or finding, this should be identified where reasonably possible.
Lived experience and research serve different purposes
Lived experience can reveal realities that datasets fail to capture.
Research can identify patterns that cannot be established from one person's experience.
Neither should be used to erase the other.
RESOURCE RECORDS
What each library entry should tell you
To keep this library useful as it grows, each research entry should ideally include:
Title
Full title of the research or report.
Author or organisation
Who produced the resource.
Publication date
When it was published or last updated.
Source type
For example: national dataset, peer reviewed research, government report, inquiry, systematic review, evaluation or sector report.
Jurisdiction
Australia, state or territory, or international.
Population
Who or what the research examines.
Topics
Relevant Research Library categories.
Why it matters
A short plain language explanation of its relevance.
Important limitations
Where necessary, a brief note about scope or interpretation.
Original source
A direct link to the publisher, research body or journal wherever possible.
Last reviewed by SFV
The date the library entry was last checked.
KEEPING THE LIBRARY CURRENT
Evidence changes
The Research Library will grow over time.
Resources may be updated when:
- new national statistics are released
- a newer edition of a report becomes available
- legislation or policy changes
- new research materially changes understanding of an issue
- a source link changes or becomes unavailable
- an older finding is superseded
Where an older resource remains historically or academically important, it may remain in the library with appropriate context rather than being removed.
SUGGEST A RESOURCE
Know of research we should consider?
Researchers, practitioners, advocates and members of the community are welcome to suggest credible research for consideration.
Please provide:
► the title
► author or publishing organisation
► publication date
► ink to the original source
► a short explanation of why it may be relevant
Submission does not guarantee inclusion.
Resources are assessed against the Research Library's source and relevance standards.
SAFETY NOTE
Research can contain confronting material
Some resources in this library discuss sexual violence, child sexual abuse, homicide, suicide, coercive control, trauma and other forms of serious harm.
You do not need to read material that is distressing or unsafe for you.
If you are looking for immediate support rather than research, visit our Get Help page.