Alcohol blamed for surge in violence among Hunter women
Police are charging more women with assault in the Hunter and health workers say alcohol abuse is mostly to blame.
A Herald investigation has found that while the number of men arrested in the Hunter for non-domestic assaults has remained stable during the past decade, the number of women charged has increased almost 40 per cent.
Data prepared for The Herald by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research also shows a 200 per cent surge in the number of women proceeded against by police for domestic violence-related assaults from October 1999 to September 2009.
This compares with an increase of 60 per cent in the number of men charged with domestic violence-related assaults during the same period.
