Following the publication of the fifth Review of the Quality of Crime Statistics in October 2023, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has lifted the 'Under Reservation' categorisation around Recorded Crime Statistics. This is possible because An Garda Síochána have introduced a range of quality measures over the last number of years which have resulted in sustained improvement in the quality of the underlying crime data. These changes give a level of assurance to users that they can rely on Recorded Crime Statistics.
For further information see our Lifting of Under Reservation categorisation for Recorded Crime Statistics FAQ page.
In 2022, the suspected offender was known to seven out of every ten (71%) victims of detected Sexual offences and to two-thirds (67%) of victims of detected Attempts/Threats to Murder, Assaults, Harassments & Related offences.
In 2023, four in five (81%) victims of reported incidents of Sexual offences were female and about half of all victims (49%) were under 18 when the incident took place.
One in five (20%) detected Sexual offences in 2022 involved a male suspected offender and a male victim compared with about half (53%) of detected Attempts/Threats to Murder, Assaults, Harassments & Related offences.
Nearly two-thirds (63%) of Sexual offences reported by victims in 2023 were within a year of occurrence but one out of every five victims (21%) referred to incidents that occurred more than 10 years earlier.
Six in ten victims (60%) of Assaults in 2023 were male and just over two-thirds (68%) of victims of Harassment & Related offences were female.
Nearly three out of every ten (28%) victims of historical Sexual offences reported in 2023 were males under 18 years of age when the incident occurred, compared with nearly half (48%) for female victims.
A third of victims (32%) of reported Dangerous Driving Leading to Death offences in 2023 were under 18 years when the offence occurred.
The CSO published its fifth CSO Review of the Quality of Recorded Crime Statistics in October 2023. As part of this review the CSO has lifted the ‘Under Reservation’ designation from all Recorded Crime data disseminated after Quarter 1 (Q1) 2023.
An Garda Síochána (AGS) has worked over the past number of years to advance the assurance levels that can be provided around Garda PULSE data, and in particular the quality management developments of 2022 and 2023. This work has seen the development of quality assurance processes by AGS over the period which has culminated in the implementation of a more formal data quality management system by AGS.
The recorded crime series has been progressively improving over time with the cumulative impact of the improved data quality, assessment, and assurance measures being seen in a higher data quality level as noted in various CSO reviews in recent years.
Given the new AGS controls for quality checking and reporting, coupled with the CSO reserving the right to do its own reviews, a level of assurance has been provided warranting the lifting of the "Under Reservation” categorisation.
However, some judgement should be exercised by users when using data produced in the earlier years of the recorded crime time series given the legacy quality issues which have been commented on in various reviews. For instance, detections data pre and post-2018 are not comparable given the improved governance controls introduced in that year. The CSO will continue to inform users of the quality of the data they are using, and of any particular issues which may need to be noted around time series comparability as they arise.
Data presented in this publication is sourced from PULSE, the administrative crime database of An Garda Síochána, and the data for this publication was extracted at the beginning of March 2023. Sexual offences in this publication include Rape & Sexual Assault only.
Statistics relating to victims of recorded crime incidents were first published by CSO in 2019, for the reference period 2016 to 2018. This publication includes statistics for reference year 2022. The full series, from 2016, is available on PxStat.
Statistics relating to suspected offenders of detected crime incidents were published by CSO for the first time in 2020, following the introduction of new data governance controls by An Garda Síochána targeted at improving data quality in the recording of detections in 2018.
Statistical data in respect of suspected offenders is presented for crimes reported between 2020 and 2022 in this publication. Figures for reference year 2023 will be published in the next reporting period, in order to allow time for a sufficient volume of investigations to proceed to conclusion.
Data on the nature of the relationship between victims and suspected offenders of selected offence groups became available from Quarter 3 (Q3) 2021. This data was first published in February 2023 and was based on the relationship with the reported suspect as reported by the victim at the time of the incident. The data presented in chapter 5 of this publication is based on detected crime data and the first full year of data is for 2022.
Differences between the numbers of suspected offenders in this publication and the Recorded Crime Detection 2022 publication of 20 November 2023 reflect the detection of additional incidents in the interim.
Statistics published in this release are in respect of crime incidents known to and recorded by An Garda Síochána, and do not capture crime incidents which have not been reported by victims.
It should be noted that the crime figures for 2020 and 2021 for some crime categories are likely to have been influenced by the public health restrictions that were imposed as a result of COVID-19.
As the data presented here is from administrative sources, it is not comparable to the results of the survey-based data from the CSO Sexual Violence Survey.
Learn about our data and confidentiality safeguards, and the steps we take to produce statistics that can be trusted by all.
Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (30 April 2024) released Recorded Crime Victims 2023 and Suspected Offenders 2022, based on recorded crime data collected by An Garda Síochána on their PULSE system.
Commenting on the publication, Jim Dalton, Statistician in the Crime & Criminal Justice Section, said: “Recorded Crime Victim statistics for 2023 and Suspected Offender statistics for 2022 published today include a new section which shows the nature of the relationship between victims and suspected offenders for detected Sexual offences (Rape & Sexual Assault) and Assault & Related offences in 2022. The data in this chapter is based on crime incidents where the relationship between the victim and suspected offender is known. Suspected offender statistics are published up to 2022 only to allow time for criminal investigations to progress.
Main results
Today’s results show that in 2022, the suspected offender was known to seven out of every ten victims of detected Sexual offences and to two-thirds of victims of detected Attempts/Threats to Murder, Assaults, Harassments & Related offences.
A crime may be marked as detected when An Garda Síochána have identified at least one person responsible for committing the offence and that person has been issued a charge or summons, a formal or informal caution, or a fixed payment notice.
The results also show that nearly two-thirds (63%) of Sexual offences reported by victims in 2023 were within a year of occurrence but one out of every five (21%) offences reported referred to incidents that occurred more than 10 years earlier.
The nature of the relationship between victims and suspected offenders of detected Sexual offences and Assaults & Related offences
In 2022, the suspected offender was known to seven out of every ten (71%) victims of detected Sexual offences and to two-thirds (67%) of victims of detected Attempts/Threats to Murder, Assaults, Harassments & Related offences.
For just over a fifth (21%) of victims of detected Sexual offences, the suspected offender was a Friend/Acquaintance and was a blood relative in 14% of cases. Current or former intimate partners or spouses accounted for 7% of all suspected offenders for this type of offence. The suspected offender was a stranger to the victim in about three out of every ten (29%) detected offences.
When one looks at detected Attempts/Threats to Murder, Assaults, Harassments & Related offences, friends or acquaintances accounted for 14% of suspected offenders while the share for current and former intimate partners or spouses was 9% and 6% respectively. The share of blood relatives among suspected offenders was 8%. In a third (33%) of such offences, the suspected offender was a stranger to the victim.
Victims of historic Sexual offences
‘Historic’ Sexual offences refer to those offences that were reported more than one year after occurrence while 'recent' offences refer to those reported within one year of occurrence. It is interesting to note the difference between the age of the victim at the time of the offence and the age of the individual when they reported the offence.
In 2023, about three in ten (28%) victims of historic Sexual offences were males under 18 years of age when the crime incident occurred, compared with about a half (48%) for female victims.
However, when it comes to the time of reporting the offence, 16% of victims were females under 18 years of age compared with 5% for male victims. Furthermore, nearly a quarter (23%) of victims were males aged 30 years or more at the time of reporting, compared with just over a third (36%) for female victims.
Sexual offences reported in 2023
Nearly two-thirds (63%) of victims of Sexual offences in 2023 reported the incident within a year of occurrence while one in five (21%) reported the incident more than 10 years after it occurred.
Males tended to take longer than females to report incidents of Sexual offences. Male victims accounted for 12% of Sexual offences reported within a year compared with 88% for females.
However, for incidents reported after a year, 31% of victims were male and 69% were female.
Victims and suspected offenders of crimes in 2023
One in eight (79%) detected Sexual offences in 2022 involved a male suspected offender and a female victim, while one in five (20%) involved both a male suspected offender and male victim.
Just over six in ten (63%) detected Murder or Manslaughter offences reported in 2022 involved both a male suspected offender and male victim while about a fifth (22%) involved a male suspected offender and female victim.
The suspected offender and victim were both male in about half (53%) of detected Attempts/Threats to Murder, Assaults, Harassments and of Related offences. Furthermore, nearly three out of ten (28%) such detected crime incidents involved a male suspected offender and female victim.
Four out of every five reported victims of Sexual offences were female in 2023
Four of every five (81%) victims of reported incidents of Sexual offences in 2023 were female which is similar to patterns between 2020 to 2022. Of the 2,884 reported victims of incidents of Sexual offences in 2022, 2,333 were female while 551 were male.
There were 64 victims of reported Homicide & Related offences in 2023, 16 less than the 80 reported in 2022. Males accounted for 67% all Homicides in 2022 while 33% were females.
Six in ten (60%) victims of Assaults were male in 2023 and just over two-thirds (68%) of victims of Harassment & Related offences were female. There was a more even distribution between males (53%) and females (47%) for Attempts/Threat to Murder offences.
Age profile of victims of Sexual, Homicide and Assault offences in 2023
In 2023, about half (49%) of all victims of reported incidents of Sexual offences were aged under 18 when the offence occurred. Nearly three out of ten (28%) victims were aged between 18 and 29 years when the incident occurred while the remainder (22%) were 30 years or over.
Six out of ten (61%) victims of reported incidents of Attempts/Threats to Murder, Assaults, Harassments & Related offences in 2023 were aged 18-44 years when the incident occurred. Nearly three in ten (27%) were aged between 18 and 29 years, while just under a fifth (18%) were aged 45-59 years, and 14% were under 18 when the incident occurred.
A third of victims (32%) of reported Dangerous Driving Leading to Death offences in 2023 were under 18 years when the offence occurred. One fifth (20%) of victims of Murder or Manslaughter were under 30 years of age and it was much the same for victims aged 60 years or more (19%).
Suspected offenders and selected crime types in 2022
Serious crimes against the person include Homicide, Sexual offences, and Assault & Related offences. Males accounted for 85% of suspected offenders of detected Homicide & Related offences in 2022 and virtually all (99%) detected Sexual offences. In the case of detected Attempts/Threats to Murder, Assaults, Harassments & Related offences, 81% of suspected offenders were male.
Age of suspected offender of Sexual offences when victim aged under 18
In 2022, just over a quarter (27%) of detected Sexual offences against persons under 18 years at the time of the offence involved a suspected offender who was aged 30 years or more. Suspected offenders who were aged under 18 or between 18 and 29 years were responsible for equal shares (13% each) of detected Sexual offences where the victim was under 18 years.
A further fifth (19%) of detected Sexual offences involved this same age cohort of suspected offenders and victims aged 18-29 years, and 13% for offences against victims who were at least 30 years of age.”