Recorded Crime Victims 2023 and Suspected Offenders 2022

Just over four out of every five (81%) victims of reported incidents of Sexual offences in 2023 were female and this continued a similar pattern from the earlier years presented in Table 2.1 below. Of the 2,884 reported victims of Sexual offences in 2023, 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. Of the total victims, 36 were by Murder or Manslaughter with the remaining 28 attributed to Dangerous Driving Leading to Death. Two out of every three (67%) victims of all Homicide offences in 2023 were male while 33% were females. This compared with 71% for males and 29% for females in 2022.

Nearly seven in ten (69%) victims of Murder or Manslaughter were male compared with 31% for females in 2023. In the same year, 64% of victims of Dangerous Driving Leading to Death were male compared with 36% for females.

There were 23,226 victims of reported incidents of Attempts/Threats to Murder, Assaults, Harassments and Related offences in 2023 and this was slightly lower than the figure of 23,537 in 2022. Within this category, six in ten (60%) assault victims were male compared to four in ten (40%) for females. Just over two thirds (68%) of victims of Harassment & Related offences were female compared to 32% for males. There was a more even distribution between males (53%) and females (47%) for Attempts/Threat to Murder offences. See Figure 2.1 and Table 2.1.

Almost half of victims of Sexual offences in 2023 were under 18 years when the incident occurred

In 2023, almost half (49%) of victims of reported incidents of Sexual offences were aged under 18 years at the time of occurrence. This was slightly less than the 52% share recorded in 2022. 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. See Figure 2.2 and Table 2.2.

A third of victims of Dangerous Driving leading to Death offences in 2023 were under 18 years of age

Of the 28 victims of reported incidents of Dangerous Driving Leading to Death in 2023, 9 or 32% were under 18 years of age when the incident occurred. Just over half of the total (15 or 53%) were at least 45 years of age and 14% were between 18 and 29 years. One in five (20%) victims of Murder or Manslaughter were under 30 years of age when the incident occurred and it was much the same for victims aged 60 years or over (19%). When these two incident types are taken together, nearly a third (32%) of victims of Homicide & Related offences were under 30 years of age at the time of the incident, 43% were aged between 30 and 59 years and a quarter (25%) were at least 60 years of age. See Figure 2.3 and Table 2.2.

Just over a third of victims of assault and related crimes in 2023 were aged 30-44 years when the offence occurred

Just over a third (34%) of the 23,226 victims of reported incidents of Attempts/Threats to Murder, Assaults, Harassments and Related offences in 202 were aged 30-44 years when the incident occurred. Nearly three in ten (27%) were aged between 18 and 29 years. Just under a fifth (18%) were aged 45-59 years and 14% were under 18 when the incident occurred. The breakdown by age for 2023 was very similar to that for the years 2020 to 2022. See Figure 2.4.

 Victims of reported Assaults which accounted for 85% of the overall category of Attempts/Threats to Murder, Assaults, Harassments and Related offences in 2023 showed a slightly different age profile: Nearly three in ten (28%) victims were aged 18-29 years when the incident occurred and about a third (34%) were aged 30-44 years. Just under a fifth (18%) were aged 45-59 years, 14% were under 18 years of age and 6% were aged 60 years or more. 

The age profile of victims of reported incidents of Attempts/Threats to Murder offences were quite similar between 2021 and 2023. For example, 23% of victims in 2023 were aged between 18 and 29 years when the incident occurred compared with 25% in 2021. Also, 40% of victims in 2023 were in the 30-44 age group compared with 39% in 2021. Furthermore, about a quarter (24%) of victims in 2023 were aged 45-59 years and this was very similar to the previous two years. 

Finally, nearly three out of every five (57%) of victims of Harassment & Related offences were aged between 18 and 44 years when the incident occurred. A further one in five (19%) victims were in the 45-59 age group while 16% were aged under 18 years of age. Victims aged 60 years or more accounted for 8% of total victims for this offence group. See Figure 2.4 and Table 2.2.

Nearly two thirds of victims of Sexual offences in 2023 reported the incident within a year of occurrence

There is often a separation in time between when a crime occurred and when it was subsequently reported to or became known to An Garda Síochána. This is observed to be a particular feature of Sexual offences which are often not reported by victims for a substantial period of time after the offence has taken place. A breakdown of the period of time between the date of occurrence of Sexual offence crime incidents and the date reported to An Garda Síochána is provided in Table 2.4.

Nearly two thirds (63% or 1,823) of the 2,884 victims of incidents of Sexual offences in 2023 reported the incident within a year of occurrence. This was higher than in the three previous years where it was 57% in 2022, 54% in 2021 and 51% in 2020.

One in five victims (21%) of Sexual offences who reported the crime in 2023 referred to incidents that occurred more than ten years earlier. This was the same as in 2022 but lower than the 26% reported in 2021 and the 29% in 2020. The share of victims who reported such crime incidents in the intervening periods has remained much the same since 2020. See Figure 2.5 and Table 2.3.

Higher share of victims of historic rather than recent Sexual offences for males

Recorded data in respect of Sexual offence crimes and victims, relates both to events which were reported to An Garda Síochána shortly after their occurrence, as well as to events which may have happened many years ago but are now being reported by victims. The profile of victims differs depending on this incident-reporting gap, and consequently they are examined separately in the analysis which follows.

For ease of understanding, the scenarios are referred to as ‘recent’ (i.e., crime reported within one year of occurrence) and ‘historic’ (i.e., crime reported more than one year after its occurrence) in the subsequent analysis.

Table 2.4 below shows the age profile of victims of reported incidents of Sexual offences when the incident occurred. There were 1,061 recorded victims of historic Sexual offences in 2023. Of this, 332 (31%) were male and 729 (69%) were female. By comparison, males accounted for 219 or 12% of the 1,823 recorded victims of recent Sexual offences in 2023 compared with 88% or 1,604 for females. This followed a broadly similar pattern to the previous three years. See Figure 2.6 and Table 2.4.

There were differences too between the age at the time of the incident for male and female victims who reported recent and historic incidents Sexual offences. 

Taking recent Sexual offences first, 28% of victims were females under 18 years of age compared with 5% for males. Just over a third (35%) of victims aged between 18 and 29 years were female compared to 3% for males and for victims aged 30 years or more, 26% were female compared to 4% for males.

The profile of victims of historic Sexual offences was however quite different with a higher share of victims being aged under 18 years when the incident occurred then for recently reported Sexual offences. Nearly three out of every ten (28%) victims under 18 years of age were male and nearly half (48%) were female. Female victims aged 18-29 years accounted for 12% of victims of historical Sexual offences compared with 2% for males while the corresponding shares for victims aged 30 years or more were 9% for females and 1% for males. See Figure 2.7 and Table 2.4.

More female than male victims at least 30 years old when reporting historic Sexual offences in 2023

The age profile of victims in Table 2.5 below is based on the age of the victim when the crime incident was reported and differs from Table 2.4 where the age of the victim was when the incident occurred. 

The key differences between both tables, as one would expect, lie in the profile of victims of reported historic incidents of Sexual offences. 

Taking males first, Table 2.4 above shows that 28% of victims of historic Sexual offences were males aged under 18 years and 1% were males aged 30 years or more when the incident occurred. However, when the age is taken at the time of reporting, 23% of victims were males aged 30 years or more while 5% were males under 18 years of age. 

When you look at the profile of female victims of historic Sexual offences, those aged under 18 years of age at the time of reporting accounted for 16% (see Table 2.4 above) of all victims compared to 48% of victims when age was taken when the incident occurred. Just over a third (36%) of victims were females aged 30 years when the incident was reported compared to 9% of victims when the incident occurred. See Figure 2.8 and Table 2.5.