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 relative proportion of female to male victims has remained quite steady in each of the last four years. Females have been the victims in between 80% and 82% of recorded sexual violence incidents and between 40% and 41% of physical assaults and related offences in each of the last four years. See Figure 3.1.
Greater variability within the homicides group is due in part to the relatively small numbers involved.
| 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | |
| 01 Homicide offences | 26.2 | 35.2 | 22.5 | 18.4 |
| 02 Sexual offences | 80.3 | 81 | 81.6 | 81.1 |
| 03 Attempts/threats to murder, assaults, harassments and related offences | 40.7 | 40.2 | 40.7 | 40.9 |
The numbers of recorded male and female victims of selected serious crime incident types in years 2016 to 2019 are shown in Table 3.1.
There were 40 recorded male victims (81.6%) and 9 recorded female victims (18.4%) of homicide offences in 2019 in Ireland. Within the category of homicide, 30 males were recorded as victims of Murder or manslaughter compared to 8 female victims, while 10 males were recorded as victims of incidents of Dangerous driving leading to death compared to one female victim. The number of incidents of Dangerous driving leading to death may increase as investigations into fatal road traffic collisions conclude.
81.1% of recorded victims of sexual violence offences in 2019 were females, while 18.9% were males.
59.1% of recorded victims of physical assaults and related offences in 2019 were males.
More than one third (36.7%) of homicide victims recorded in 2019 were aged between 30 and 44 years. 10.2% of homicide victims were aged 60 years or over. See Table 3.2 and Figure 3.2.
30.7% of victims of physical assault and related offences in 2019 were aged between 18 and 29 years, and 32% were aged between 30 and 44 years. Combined, almost two thirds of victims of physical assault and related offences in 2019 were aged between 18 and 44 years. 14.3% of victims of physical assault and related offences in 2019 were aged under 18, while 5.3% were aged 60 years or over.
| Under 18 | 18-29 | 30-44 | 45-59 | 60 or over | |
| 01 Homicide offences | 8.2 | 26.5 | 36.7 | 18.4 | 10.2 |
| 03 Attempts/threats to murder, assaults, harassments and related offences | 14.3 | 30.7 | 32 | 17.6 | 5.3 |
1,545, or more than half of victims (55.4%) reporting sexual violence in 2019 were under 18 at the time the offence occurred, while a further 722 victims (25.9%) were aged between 18 and 29. The remaining 521 sexual violence victims reporting in 2019 reported offences which took place when they were aged 30 or over. The ages of victims in respect of incidents of sexual violence is examined in further detail in the remainder of this chapter.
There is sometimes a separation in time between when a crime occurred and when it was reported or became known to An Garda Síochána. This is a feature of reported sexual offences which are sometimes not reported by victims for what can be a substantial period of time after the offence had taken place.
62.2% of victims (1,735 victims) who reported sexual violence crimes to An Garda Síochána in 2019 reported offences which are recorded as having taken place less than one year prior to the reporting of the crime. The remaining 1,053 victims (37.8%) reported offences which occurred more than one year prior to their reporting to An Garda Síochána, and the gap between the reporting date and the date of occurrence of the crime showed considerable variation. Almost one in four victims (23.9%) of sexual violence who reported crimes in 2019 reported offences which occurred more than ten years earlier. See Figure 3.3.
A breakdown of the period of time between the date of occurrence and the date reported to An Garda Síochána is provided in Table 3.3.
| 2019 | |
| Less than one year | 62.2 |
| 1-3 years | 6.7 |
| 3-10 years | 7.2 |
| More than 10 years | 23.9 |
The proportion of sexual violence crimes reported to An Garda Síochána which refer to offences which happened at various intervals in the past has remained steady in recent years. See Figure 3.4.
| Less than one year | 1-3 years | 3-10 years | More than 10 years | |
| 2016 | 61 | 7.3 | 7 | 24.8 |
| 2017 | 61.9 | 7.7 | 7.5 | 22.9 |
| 2018 | 63.1 | 5.5 | 6.3 | 25 |
| 2019 | 62.2 | 6.7 | 7.2 | 23.9 |
As such, recorded crime data in respect of sexual violence crimes, and victims, relates both to events which were reported to An Garda Síochána shortly after their occurrence, as well as to events which happened many years ago and 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 from its occurrence) in the subsequent analysis.
One third (33.3%) of victims of recent sexual violence crimes reported in 2019 were females aged under 18 years at the time of the offence. A further 32.2% were females aged between 18 and 29 years, and 23.2% were aged 30 or over. As such, almost nine out of ten (88.6%) of victims of sexual violence crimes reported in 2019 where the crime occurred within one year of its reporting were females. This figure is consistent with the equivalent figure in 2018 (89.1%). See Table 3.4 and Figure 3.5.
The number of male victims who reported recent sexual violence crime was significantly lower than the number of females (197 male victims, compared to 1,538 female victims), but within this cohort, the victim was aged under 18 years at the time of the offence in 84 cases (42.6%) in 2019 compared to 112 cases (58.9%) in 2018.
| X-axis label | Under 18 | 18-29 | 30 or over |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 33.3 | 32.2 | 23.2 |
| Male | 4.8 | 3.5 | 3.1 |
Some 55% of victims (579 victims) of historic sexual violence crimes reported in 2019 were females who were aged under 18 at the time of the offence. A further 28.9% of such victims (304 victims) were males aged under 18 at the time of the offence. As such, 83.9% of all victims (883 victims) of historic sexual violence crimes reported in 2019 were aged under 18 when the offences took place. Overall, females were victims in just over two thirds (68.6%) of historic cases. This figure is consistent with the equivalent figure in 2018. See Table 3.4 and Figure 3.6.
| X-axis label | Under 18 | 18-29 | 30 or over |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 55 | 8.2 | 5.4 |
| Male | 28.9 | 1.7 | 0.9 |
There was considerable variation in the age at which victims did report historic sexual violence crimes in 2019. 32.3% of victims who reported crimes which occurred more than one year before their reporting to An Garda Síochána were females aged 30 years or over, and 23.5% were males aged 30 years or over. See Table 3.5 and Figure 3.7.
| X-axis label | Under 18 | 18-29 | 30 or over |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 19.7 | 16.6 | 32.3 |
| Male | 3.6 | 4.4 | 23.5 |
View tables on Statbank.
Go to next chapter: Recorded Suspected Offenders 2018
Learn about our data and confidentiality safeguards, and the steps we take to produce statistics that can be trusted by all.