Key Stories report analyses crime stats

New research from the Ministry of Justice is putting the trends behind key crime statistics under the microscope.

Key Stories is an annual report which examines findings from the New Zealand Crime and Victims Survey (NZCVS).

“This report provides deeper analysis and context behind the key findings from Cycle 8 of the New Zealand Crime and Victims Survey (NZCVS) conducted between October 2024 and October 2025,” says the Ministry of Justice’s General Manager, Sector Insights, Rebecca Parish.

This year, Key Stories has highlighted the following trends:

Number of family violence victims down; incidents up

The proportion of adults experiencing family violence offences fell from 2.2 percent in 2018 to 1.4 percent in 2025. 

This was driven by a drop in one-off incidents, and incidents perceived as less serious.

At the same time the number of family offence incidents increased, from 207,000 in 2018 to 256,000 in 2025.

This increase overly impacted victims of repeated incidents, and other groups including disabled people, Māori, women, and LGBTQ+ adults.

“The increase in incidence tells us that although fewer people are suffering from family violence, those who are already in the cycle remain highly victimised,” says Ms Parish.

Since peaking in 2022, the proportion of adults experiencing fraud has begun to decline, dropping from 10 percent in 2022 to nine percent in 2025.

This was driven largely by a decrease in victims of one-off offences.

The recent decline has also coincided with public awareness campaigns aimed at preventing fraud and scams.

“While most groups saw a drop in fraud, older adults (aged 65+), disabled adults and victims of repeat fraud all saw increases. Victims of repeat fraud also reported far greater financial costs as a result of the incidents.”

“Evidence also suggests that scams are growing in complexity. Fraudsters are using previously obtained personal data, which is then often shared, sold and reused leading to some victims being scammed multiple times.”