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Recorded Crime Detection 2020

Persons Detected and Sanction Types

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These statistics are categorised as Under Reservation. This categorisation indicates that the quality of these statistics do not meet the standards required of official statistics published by the CSO.

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Males recorded as suspected offenders in majority of detected crimes

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When a person is issued a charge or summons, caution or fixed payment notice, the person is termed the ‘suspected offender’. Statistics relating to the age and sex of suspected offenders of recorded crimes, which are normally published at a later stage in conjunction with statistics relating to victims, have been brought forward and are published here, to provide more timely statistics for users. The range of crime types for which statistics on suspected offenders are provided has also been extended in this publication in response to user demand.

For crimes which were reported in 2020 and have been detected, nine out of ten (89.9%) suspected offenders of Group 01 (Homicides offences) incidents were male. Within the category of homicide, 31 males (86.1%) were recorded as suspected offenders of Murder or Manslaughter compared to 5 (13.9%) female suspected offenders, while 31 males (93.9%) were recorded as suspected offenders of incidents of Dangerous driving leading to death compared to 2 (6.1%) female suspected offenders.

Less than one in twenty (4.7%) suspected offenders were female for Group 02 (Sexual offences) incidents reported in 2020 which are marked detected. For crimes of rape or sexual assault, the proportion of male suspected offenders is 97.4%.

Four out of five detected Group 03 (Attempts/threats to murder, assaults, harassments and related offences) incidents (80.2%) had a male suspected offender. The statistics also show that males were identified as responsible for the vast majority of detected crimes in the categories of robbery (89.5%), burglary (92.5%), drug offences (89.5%), weapons offences (92%) and criminal damage (89.4%). In detected theft crimes, the suspected offender was female in just over one in three crimes (35.2%). See Table 6.1 and Figure 6.1.

Table 6.1 Recorded crime suspected offenders (selected offence groups) by year reported and sex of suspected offender, 2018-2020

Table 6.1 Recorded crime suspected offenders¹(selected offence groups) by year reported and sex of suspected offender, 2018-2020 ²
		Year offence was reported
		2018		2019		2020
ICCS offence group/Sex of suspected offender		Number	%	Number	%	Number	%

01 Homicide offences		69	100.0	54	100.0	69	100.0
Male		61	88.4	44	81.5	62	89.9
Female		8	11.6	10	18.5	7	10.1

of which:
	011 Murder/manslaughter/infanticide	35	100.0	30	100.0	36	100.0
	Male	31	88.6	27	90.0	31	86.1
	Female	4	11.4	3	10.0	5	13.9

	012 Dangerous driving leading to death	34	100.0	24	100.0	33	100.0
	Male	30	88.2	17	70.8	31	93.9
	Female	4	11.8	7	29.2	2	6.1

02 Sexual offences		759	100.0	688	100.0	317	100.0
Male		742	97.8	679	98.7	302	95.3
Female		17	2.2	9	1.3	15	4.7

of which:
	021 Rape and sexual assault	685	100.0	580	100.0	271	100.0
	Male	674	98.4	576	99.3	264	97.4
	Female	11	1.6	4	0.7	7	2.6

	022 Other sexual offences	74	100.0	108	100.0	46	100.0
	Male	68	91.9	103	95.4	38	82.6
	Female	6	8.1	5	4.6	8	17.4

03 Attempts/threats to murder, assaults, harassment and related offences		7,713	100.0	8,518	100.0	7,714	100.0
Male		6,223	80.7	6,814	80.0	6,190	80.2
Female		1,490	19.3	1,704	20.0	1,524	19.8

of which:
	031 Attempts/threats to murder	357	100.0	416	100.0	583	100.0
	Male	335	93.8	387	93.0	533	91.4
	Female	22	6.2	29	7.0	50	8.6

	032 Assaults	7,166	100.0	7,893	100.0	6,923	100.0
	Male	5,728	79.9	6,250	79.2	5,478	79.1
	Female	1,438	20.1	1,643	20.8	1,445	20.9

	033 Harassment and related offences	190	100.0	209	100.0	208	100.0
	Male	160	84.2	177	84.7	179	86.1
	Female	30	15.8	32	15.3	29	13.9

04 Dangerous or negligent acts		7,295	100.0	7,602	100.0	7,630	100.0
Male		6,270	85.9	6,574	86.5	6,602	86.5
Female		1,025	14.1	1,028	13.5	1,028	13.5

05 Kidnapping and related offences		67	100.0	47	100.0	68	100.0
Male		56	83.6	42	89.4	65	95.6
Female		11	16.4	5	10.6	3	4.4

06 Robbery, extortion and hijacking offences		996	100.0	900	100.0	754	100.0
Male		890	89.4	844	93.8	675	89.5
Female		106	10.6	56	6.2	79	10.5

07 Burglary and related offences		3,736	100.0	3,219	100.0	3,004	100.0
Male		3,433	91.9	2,987	92.8	2,780	92.5
Female		303	8.1	232	7.2	224	7.5

08 Theft and related offences		26,214	100.0	26,179	100.0	20,699	100.0
Male		16,097	61.4	16,124	61.6	13,411	64.8
Female		10,117	38.6	10,055	38.4	7,288	35.2

09 Fraud, deception and related offences		1,891	100.0	2,192	100.0	1,573	100.0
Male		1,434	75.8	1,667	76.0	1,324	84.2
Female		457	24.2	525	24.0	249	15.8

10 Controlled drug offences		17,335	100.0	20,327	100.0	19,979	100.0
Male		15,652	90.3	18,387	90.5	17,891	89.5
Female		1,683	9.7	1,940	9.5	2,088	10.5

11 Weapons and explosives offences		2,006	100.0	2,142	100.0	2,440	100.0
Male		1,862	92.8	1,999	93.3	2,245	92.0
Female		144	7.2	143	6.7	195	8.0

12 Damage to property and the environment		4,818	100.0	5,187	100.0	5,134	100.0
Male		4,343	90.1	4,663	89.9	4,589	89.4
Female		475	9.9	524	10.1	545	10.6

13 Public order and other social code offences		29,216	100.0	29,868	100.0	27,444	100.0
Male		24,452	83.7	25,047	83.9	22,966	83.7
Female		4,764	16.3	4,821	16.1	4,478	16.3

15 Offences against government, justice procedures and organisation of crime		9,349	100.0	9,659	100.0	6,538	100.0
Male		7,886	84.4	8,052	83.4	5,760	88.1
Female		1,463	15.6	1,607	16.6	778	11.9
¹ Data extracted 2nd September 2021.
² These statistics are categorised as Under Reservation. This categorisation indicates that the quality of these statistics do not meet the standards required of official statistics published by CSO.

Open in Excel: Recorded Crime Detection 2020 Table 6.1 (XLS 18KB)

	Male	Female
01 Homicide Offences	89.9	10.1
02 Sexual Offences	95.3	4.7
03 Attempts/Threats to Murder, assaults, harassments and related offences	80.2	19.8
06 Robbery, Extortion and Hijacking Offences	89.5	10.5
07 Burglary and Related Offences	92.5	7.5
08 Theft and Related Offences	64.8	35.2
10 Controlled Drug Offences	89.5	10.5
12 Damage to Property and to the Environment	89.4	10.6
13 Public Order and other Social Code Offences	83.7	16.3

More than one in five suspected offenders of sexual offences reported in 2020 were under 18 years when the offence took place

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Around a fifth (21.5%) of suspected offenders of detected sexual offence crimes which were reported in 2020 were under 18 years when the offence took place, with 32.2% of suspected offenders aged between 18 and 29 years at the time the offence occurred. A further 25.2% of sexual violence offenders were aged between 30 and 44 years. See Table 6.2 and Figure 6.2.

Just over two thirds of suspected offenders (67%) of detected physical assaults and related offences were aged between 18 and 44 years, with suspected offenders aged under 18 at the time the offence occurred accounting for 14.7% of such offenders.

Table 6.2 Recorded crime suspected offenders (selected offence groups) by year reported and age of suspected offender when offence occurred, 2018-2020

Table 6.2 Recorded crime suspected offenders¹ (selected offence groups) by year reported and age of suspected offender when offence occurred, 2018-2020 ²
		Year offence was reported
		2018		2019		2020
ICCS offence group/Age of suspected offender at time of offence		Number	%	Number	%	Number	%

01 Homicide offences		69	100.0	54	100.0	69	100.0
Under 18		4	5.8	1	1.9	7	10.1
18-29		32	46.4	17	31.5	25	36.2
30-44		21	30.4	10	18.5	22	31.9
45-59		7	10.1	18	33.3	7	10.1
60 or over		5	7.2	8	14.8	8	11.6

of which:
	011 Murder or manslaughter	35	100.0	30	100.0	36	100.0
	Under 18	4	11.4	1	3.3	3	8.3
	18-29	13	37.1	11	36.7	9	25.0
	30-44	12	34.3	8	26.7	18	50.0
	45-59	5	14.3	10	33.3	3	8.3
	60 or over	1	2.9	0	0.0	3	8.3

	012 Dangerous driving leading to death	34	100.0	24	100.0	33	100.0
	Under 18	0	0.0	0	0.0	4	12.1
	18-29	19	55.9	6	25.0	16	48.5
	30-44	9	26.5	2	8.3	4	12.1
	45-59	2	5.9	8	33.3	4	12.1
	60 or over	4	11.8	8	33.3	5	15.2

02 Sexual offences		759	100.0	688	100.0	317	100.0
Under 18		158	20.8	152	22.1	68	21.5
18-29		226	29.8	183	26.6	102	32.2
30-44		205	27.0	223	32.4	80	25.2
45-59		110	14.5	93	13.5	53	16.7
60 or over		60	7.9	37	5.4	14	4.4

of which:
	021 Rape and sexual assault	685	100.0	580	100.0	271	100.0
	Under 18	133	19.4	125	21.6	51	18.8
	18-29	210	30.7	164	28.3	95	35.1
	30-44	192	28.0	180	31.0	70	25.8
	45-59	94	13.7	77	13.3	42	15.5
	60 or over	56	8.2	34	5.9	13	4.8

	022 Other sexual offences	74	100.0	108	100.0	46	100.0
	Under 18	25	33.8	27	25.0	17	37.0
	18-29	16	21.6	19	17.6	7	15.2
	30-44	13	17.6	43	39.8	10	21.7
	45-59	16	21.6	16	14.8	11	23.9
	60 or over	4	5.4	3	2.8	1	2.2

03 Attempts/threats to murder, assaults, harassment and related offences		7,713	100.0	8,518	100.0	7,714	100.0
Under 18		1,209	15.7	1,307	15.3	1,134	14.7
18-29		2,726	35.3	3,138	36.8	2,421	31.4
30-44		2,520	32.7	2,658	31.2	2,747	35.6
45-59		1,007	13.1	1,155	13.6	1,139	14.8
60 or over		251	3.3	260	3.1	273	3.5

of which:
	031 Attempts/threats to murder	357	100.0	416	100.0	583	100.0
	Under 18	20	5.6	23	5.5	36	6.2
	18-29	120	33.6	146	35.1	201	34.5
	30-44	157	44.0	164	39.4	225	38.6
	45-59	49	13.7	65	15.6	104	17.8
	60 or over	11	3.1	18	4.3	17	2.9

	032 Assaults	7,166	100.0	7,893	100.0	6,923	100.0
	Under 18	1,164	16.2	1,247	15.8	1,072	15.5
	18-29	2,568	35.8	2,943	37.3	2,170	31.3
	30-44	2,299	32.1	2,424	30.7	2,462	35.6
	45-59	910	12.7	1,047	13.3	976	14.1
	60 or over	225	3.1	232	2.9	243	3.5

	033 Harassment and related offences	190	100.0	209	100.0	208	100.0
	Under 18	25	13.2	37	17.7	26	12.5
	18-29	38	20.0	49	23.4	50	24.0
	30-44	64	33.7	70	33.5	60	28.8
	45-59	48	25.3	43	20.6	59	28.4
	60 or over	15	7.9	10	4.8	13	6.3

04 Dangerous or negligent acts		7,295	100.0	7,602	100.0	7,630	100.0
Under 18		97	1.3	75	1.0	82	1.1
18-29		2,356	32.3	2,503	32.9	2,914	38.2
30-44		2,954	40.5	3,200	42.1	3,187	41.8
45-59		1,446	19.8	1,389	18.3	1,145	15.0
60 or over		442	6.1	435	5.7	302	4.0

05 Kidnapping and related offences		67	100.0	47	100.0	68	100.0
Under 18		5	7.5	2	4.3	2	2.9
18-29		27	40.3	16	34.0	27	39.7
30-44		24	35.8	22	46.8	30	44.1
45-59		9	13.4	5	10.6	8	11.8
60 or over		2	3.0	2	4.3	1	1.5

06 Robbery, extortion and hijacking offences		996	100.0	900	100.0	754	100.0
Under 18		212	21.3	220	24.4	170	22.5
18-29		446	44.8	379	42.1	300	39.8
30-44		312	31.3	260	28.9	246	32.6
45-59		26	2.6	40	4.4	36	4.8
60 or over		0	0.0	1	0.1	2	0.3

07 Burglary and related offences		3,736	100.0	3,219	100.0	3,004	100.0
Under 18		671	18.0	562	17.5	457	15.2
18-29		1,498	40.1	1,279	39.7	1,026	34.2
30-44		1,287	34.4	1,117	34.7	1,159	38.6
45-59		274	7.3	243	7.5	348	11.6
60 or over		6	0.2	18	0.6	14	0.5

08 Theft and related offences		26,214	100.0	26,179	100.0	20,699	100.0
Under 18		4,926	18.8	4,951	18.9	3,051	14.7
18-29		9,103	34.7	8,790	33.6	6,830	33.0
30-44		9,266	35.3	9,172	35.0	8,076	39.0
45-59		2,403	9.2	2,708	10.3	2,335	11.3
60 or over		516	2.0	558	2.1	407	2.0

09 Fraud, deception and related offences		1,891	100.0	2,192	100.0	1,573	100.0
Under 18		143	7.6	208	9.5	132	8.4
18-29		683	36.1	741	33.8	559	35.5
30-44		745	39.4	811	37.0	633	40.2
45-59		267	14.1	324	14.8	190	12.1
60 or over		53	2.8	108	4.9	59	3.8

10 Controlled drug offences		17,335	100.0	20,327	100.0	19,979	100.0
Under 18		1,427	8.2	1,824	9.0	1,563	7.8
18-29		10,716	61.8	12,612	62.0	11,554	57.8
30-44		4,400	25.4	4,916	24.2	5,682	28.4
45-59		729	4.2	914	4.5	1,105	5.5
60 or over		63	0.4	61	0.3	75	0.4

11 Weapons and explosives offences		2,006	100.0	2,142	100.0	2,440	100.0
Under 18		378	18.8	432	20.2	423	17.3
18-29		822	41.0	833	38.9	891	36.5
30-44		629	31.4	671	31.3	866	35.5
45-59		157	7.8	176	8.2	230	9.4
60 or over		20	1.0	30	1.4	30	1.2

12 Damage to property and the environment		4,818	100.0	5,187	100.0	5,134	100.0
Under 18		1,148	23.8	1,186	22.9	1,120	21.8
18-29		2,000	41.5	2,044	39.4	1,923	37.5
30-44		1,209	25.1	1,451	28.0	1,484	28.9
45-59		378	7.8	395	7.6	464	9.0
60 or over		83	1.7	111	2.1	143	2.8

13 Public order and other social code offences		29,216	100.0	29,868	100.0	27,444	100.0
Under 18		3,332	11.4	3,164	10.6	2,809	10.2
18-29		12,049	41.2	11,704	39.2	9,836	35.8
30-44		9,551	32.7	10,002	33.5	9,909	36.1
45-59		3,613	12.4	4,204	14.1	4,207	15.3
60 or over		671	2.3	794	2.7	683	2.5

15 Offences against government, justice procedures and organisation of crime		9,349	100.0	9,659	100.0	6,538	100.0
Under 18		118	1.3	47	0.5	37	0.6
18-29		3,849	41.2	3,723	38.5	2,286	35.0
30-44		4,172	44.6	4,392	45.5	3,040	46.5
45-59		1,042	11.1	1,320	13.7	1,021	15.6
60 or over		168	1.8	177	1.8	154	2.4
¹ Data extracted 2nd September 2021.
² These statistics are categorised as Under Reservation. This categorisation indicates that the quality of these statistics do not meet the standards required of official statistics published by CSO.

Open in Excel: Recorded Crime Detection 2020 Table 6.2 (XLS 22KB)

	Under 18	18-29	30-44	45-59	60 or over
01 Homicide Offences	10.1	36.2	31.9	10.1	11.6
02 Sexual Offences	21.5	32.2	25.2	16.7	4.4
03 Attempts/Threats to Murder, assaults, harassments and related offences	14.7	31.4	35.6	14.8	3.5
06 Robbery, Extortion and Hijacking Offences	22.5	39.8	32.6	4.8	0.3
07 Burglary and Related Offences	15.2	34.2	38.6	11.6	0.5
08 Theft and Related Offences	14.7	33	39	11.3	2
10 Controlled Drug Offences	7.8	57.8	28.4	5.5	0.4
12 Damage to Property and to the Environment	21.8	37.5	28.9	9	2.8
13 Public Order and other Social Code Offences	10.2	35.8	36.1	15.3	2.5

A charge or summons is issued to the majority of suspected offenders

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Table 6.3 provides a breakdown of all suspected offenders for crimes reported in 2020 which have since been detected, by the type of sanction recorded (i.e. charge/summons, caution, fixed payment, or other means). For crimes reported in 2020, most suspected offenders were sanctioned by issuing them with a charge or summons, with it being at least two-thirds in each offence group and more than this for a number of them. A charge or summons was issued to the suspected offender in 79% of cases in respect of Group 02 (Sexual offences) incidents, 72% of cases in respect of Group 03 (Attempts/threats to murder, assaults, harassments and related offences) incidents, and 93% of cases in respect of Group 10 (Controlled drug offences) incidents.

Juvenile cautions, which can be used for suitable suspected offenders aged under 18, were the next most common method of sanction (after charge or summons), and was applied to about at least one in ten suspected offenders sanctioned for Group 07 (Burglary and related offences) incidents (10%), Group 11 (Weapons and explosives offences) incidents (13%) and Group 12 (Damage to property and to the environment) incidents (15%). See Table 6.3

Adult cautions were used in less than one in ten Group 03 (Attempts/threats to murder, assaults, harassments and related offences) offences (7%), Group 08 (Theft and related offences) offences (7%), Group 12 (Damage to property and to the environment) offences (7%), and Group 13 (Public order and other social code offences) offences (6%). See Table 6.3

Fixed charge notices or fixed penalty notices were only applied to Group 04 (Dangerous or negligent acts) and Group 13 (Public order and other social code offences) incidents, and to around 4% and 8% respectively of suspected offenders for those incident types.

Table 6.3 Suspected offenders for crimes reported in 2020 classified by offence group and sanction type

	Charge or Summons	Adult Caution	Juvenile Caution	Caution (other)	Fixed Charge Notice / Fixed Penalty Notice	Decision not to Sanction / Sanction Type not Recorded
01 Homicide Offences	97	0	0	0	0	3
02 Sexual Offences	79	0	10	0	0	11
03 Attempts/Threats to Murder, assaults, harassments and related offences	72	7	9	1	0	11
06 Robbery, Extortion and Hijacking Offences	92	0	6	0	0	2
07 Burglary and Related Offences	87	0	10	0	0	3
08 Theft and Related Offences	81	7	9	0	0	3
10 Controlled Drug Offences	93	0	6	0	0	1
12 Damage to Property and to the Environment	71	7	15	1	0	7
13 Public Order and other Social Code Offences	71	6	8	6	8	2

Go to next chapter: Fixed Charge Notice and Fixed Penalty Notice Sanctions

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Recorded Crime Detection 2020

Persons Detected and Sanction Types

Statistics Under Reservation

Males recorded as suspected offenders in majority of detected crimes

More than one in five suspected offenders of sexual offences reported in 2020 were under 18 years when the offence took place

A charge or summons is issued to the majority of suspected offenders

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Table 6.3 Suspected offenders for crimes reported in 2020¹ classified by offence group and sanction type^{2, 3, 4}
	Number		(%)
ICCS offence group	Crimes Recorded	Suspected offenders	Charge or Summons	Adult Caution	Juvenile Caution	Caution (other)	Fixed Payment Notice	Decision not to Sanction⁵	Sanction Type not recorded⁶

01 Homicide offences	78	69	97	0	0	0	0	0	3
02 Sexual offences	3,009	317	79	0	10	0	0	8	3
03 Attempts/threats to murder, assaults, harassments and related offences	19,050	7,714	72	7	9	1	0	10	1
04 Dangerous or negligent acts	8,730	7,630	94	0	1	0	4	0	1
05 Kidnapping and related offences	129	68	94	0	3	0	0	3	0
06 Robbery, extortion and hijacking offences	1,814	754	92	0	6	0	0	2	0
07 Burglary and related offences	10,902	3,004	87	0	10	0	0	2	1
08 Theft and related offences	51,291	20,699	81	7	9	0	0	2	1
09 Fraud, deception and related offences	7,764	1,573	87	0	7	0	0	5	1
10 Controlled drug offences	23,196	19,979	93	0	6	0	0	0	1
11 Weapons and explosives offences	3,088	2,440	84	0	13	0	0	1	1
12 Damage to property and to the environment	19,507	5,134	71	7	15	1	0	6	1
13 Public order and other social code offences	29,036	27,444	71	6	8	6	8	1	1
15 Offences against government, justice procedures and organisation of crime	10,756	6,538	99	0	0	0	0	0	0
¹ Data extracted 2nd September 2021.
²As recorded in suspected offender's 'detection status' data field.
³ Please note data may not add to 100% due to rounding.
⁴ These statistics are categorised as Under Reservation. This categorisation indicates that the quality of these statistics do not meet the standards required of official statistics published by CSO.
⁵ Detection claimed as An Garda Siochana Crime Counting Rules exception.
⁶ No sanction type recorded in suspected offender's 'detection status' data field