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.
A person is termed as the ‘Suspected Offender’ when issued with a charge or summons, a caution, or a fixed payment notice.
In 2023, males were the suspected offender for most of the detected crime.
In 2023, males were the suspected offender in just over nine out of ten (92%) of detected Sexual offence crime incidents.
Males were also the suspected offender for around nine in ten detected crime incidents of:
Furthermore, males were the suspected offender in about eight in ten detected crime incidents of:
The suspected offender was female however in just over a third (35%) of detected Theft & Related offences. See Figure 5.1 and Table 5.1.
Just over seven in ten suspected offenders of detected crime incidents involving the following crime offence groups were aged 18-44 years at the time of the incident:
Over six in ten detected crime incidents involving Homicide & Related offences, Sexual offences, and Assaults & Related offences involved suspected offenders aged 18-44 years.
Just over eight in ten (85%) suspected offenders of detected crime incidents of Controlled Drugs offences were aged 18-44 years when the incident took place.
About a fifth (21%) of reported crime incidents of Robbery, Extortion & Hijacking offences, and Damage to Property & the Environment (20%) offences in 2023 involved suspected offenders under the age of 18 at the time of the offence. See Figure 5.2 and Table 5.2.
Most suspected offenders were sanctioned with a charge or summons for crimes reported in 2023, with at least seven out every ten crimes in each offence group sanctioned in this way.
Charge or summons were by far the most common form of sanction, and this was followed by juvenile cautions which can be used for suspected offenders under 18 years of age. Adult cautions were issued to suspected offenders of detected crime in six out of the 14 offence groups while fixed payment notices were issued in respect of just two offence groups – Dangerous or Negligent Acts and Public Order & Other Social Code offences.
Table 5.3 provides a breakdown of all suspected offenders for crimes reported in 2023 which have been detected, by the type of sanction recorded (i.e., charge/summons, caution, fixed payment, or other means).
The offence groups with the highest rate of sanction by charge or summons issued to the suspected offender were:
Juvenile cautions were applied the most to the suspected offender for:
Adult cautions were used in:
Fixed charge notices or fixed penalty notices were only applied to 10% of suspected offenders of Public Order & Other Social Code offences and 8% of Dangerous or Negligent Acts incidents. See Table 5.3 and Figure 5.3.
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