An Australian Institute of Criminology review found 31% of allegations were withdrawn, 11% were not substantiated and 22% were unsolved, prompting its authors to recommend specialist investigation units.
Police classified 36% of more than 19,000 sexual assault allegations made in Queensland, Australia, between 2018 and 2022 as solved, an Australian Institute of Criminology review found. That is a police classification, not a conviction rate.
Published in November 2026, the review examined why complaints did not progress. It found that 31% were withdrawn by victim-survivors, 11% were deemed not substantiated by police and 22% were considered unsolved. A classification of not substantiated is not a finding that an allegation was false.
Detectives interviewed for the review described heavy workloads and pressure to prioritize youth crime, property crime and domestic and family violence. They said older sexual-offence allegations could be left waiting as other work took priority. The researchers found that detectives handling sexual assault cases were often generalists who also investigated property crime or complex fraud.
Officers also described taking accounts in administrative rooms or offices where other officers answered phones. A sexual assault support worker told researchers that police threatened to arrest a distressed complainant unless the person settled down.
Detectives recounted difficulty obtaining forensic medical examinations, which can collect evidence after an alleged assault. They described unavailable qualified hospital staff and journeys of up to seven hours with victim-survivors. One detective said a victim-survivor waited 14 hours in an emergency ward and was then told to collect their own swabs.
Interviewed detectives also criticized decisions by Queensland’s Director of Public Prosecutions not to proceed with cases. One alleged that cases were rejected because complainants did not behave as prosecutors expected rape victims to behave. Another said trust suffered when police reassured someone that a case was strong and prosecutors then declined to proceed.
The researchers found that cases handled by officers with specialist sexual-offence training were less likely to drop out of the process. The association does not establish that training caused the difference.
Angela Lynch, chief executive of the Queensland Sexual Assault Network, called the withdrawal rate concerning. She said delays can make it harder for victim-survivors to stay engaged and can leave them feeling their cases are not a priority. The network supports a specialist response to sexual violence, including by police.
The recommendations follow a police restructuring announced in January 2026. Queensland police said they would close the domestic and family violence and vulnerable persons command’s operational support unit, redeploy its officers to local districts and move positions from the broader command to frontline commands. Police linked the changes to a 100-day review and said reforms after a 2022 inquiry had addressed many issues that previously needed centralized oversight. They said the realignment was intended to improve the response by positioning resources and expertise where they could have the greatest effect.
The review’s authors recommend investment in specialist domestic, family and sexual violence investigation units and basic sexual-offence training for general-duty officers. They also recommend requiring police and prosecutors to tell victim-survivors personally when a case will not proceed to prosecution. The Guardian said it offered Queensland police an opportunity to comment.
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