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.
For further information please refer to the Under Reservation FAQ page.
The relationship between victim and perpetrator – for example whether they were in an intimate relationship, or from the same family, or known to each other at all – is an important characteristic in understanding the context of crimes against persons.
Consistent recording of the precise relationship type between victim and suspected offender was not in place for 2018 data and is currently being examined by An Garda Síochána as a data quality opportunity.
Where a victim and suspected offender are recorded for a crime (i.e. for detected incidents) it is possible to link victim and suspected offender to produce a limited profile of the relationship between victim and perpetrator.
In the majority of detected homicide offences in 2018, the link between victim and perpetrator involved a male suspected offender and a male victim (70.3%). Almost one in five such links involved a male suspected offender and a female victim (17.2%). See Table 5.1 and Figure 5.1.
For detected sexual violence crimes in 2018, the link between victim and perpetrator involved a male suspected offender and a female victim in 79.8% of cases, and a male suspected offender and male victim in 18.1% of cases.
For detected physical assault and related crimes in 2018, the link between victim and perpetrator involved a male suspected offender and a male victim in just over half (53.9%) of cases.
| Male suspected offender and male victim | Male suspected offender and female victim | Female suspected offender and male victim | Female suspected offender and female victim | |
| 01 Homicide offences | 70.3 | 17.2 | 6.3 | 6.3 |
| 02 Sexual Violence | 18.1 | 79.8 | 0.5 | 1.6 |
| 03 Attempts/threats to murder, assaults, harassments and related offences | 53.9 | 26.6 | 6 | 13.5 |
For detected homicide offences in 2018, the link between victim and perpetrator most commonly involved a suspected offender aged over 30 and a victim aged over 30, in just over one third of cases (35.9%). This was also the case in physical assaults and related offences, with just over one third (34.7%) of victim-perpetrator links involving a suspected offender over 30 and a victim over 30. See Table 5.2.
For detected sexual violence crimes in 2018, the victim-offender link most commonly involved a suspected offender aged over 30 and a victim aged under 18, in 26.8% of cases. Both the suspected offender and the victim were aged under 18 in 14.7% of cases.
View tables on Statbank.
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