Recorded Crime Victims 2024 and Suspected Offenders 2023

The number of recorded male victims of crime incidents of Sexual offences rose by 303 or 54% to 869 victims between 2023 and 2024. The number of female victims increased marginally from 2,387 in 2023 to 2,419 victims in 2024. Taken together, females remained the main victims of recorded crime incidents of Sexual offences, accounting for three out of every four victims (74%) in 2024 compared with 26% for males.

There were 77 recorded victims of crime incidents of Homicide & Related offences in 2024, 11 less than the 88 reported victims in 2023. Of the total victims, 41 were by Murder or Manslaughter while the remaining 36 were by Dangerous Driving Leading to Death. Three out of four (74%) victims of all crime incidents of Homicide & Related offences in 2024 were male while 26% were females. This compared with 69% for males and 31% for females in 2023.

Most victims of crime incidents of Murder or Manslaughter were male (85%) compared with 15% for females in 2024. In the same year, 61% of victims of crime incidents of Dangerous Driving Leading to Death were male compared with 39% for females.

There were 24,142 recorded victims of crime incidents of Attempts/Threats to Murder, Assaults, Harassments and Related offences in 2024 and this was the highest over the four year period (2021-2024). Within this category, 62% of assault victims were male compared to 38% for females. Nearly seven in ten (69%) recorded victims of crime incidents of Harassment & Related offences were female compared to 31% for males. There was a more even distribution between males (52%) and females (48%) for crime incidents of Attempts/Threat to Murder offences. See Figure 2.1, Table 2.1 and PxStat Table CVA03.

Half of recorded victims of crime incidents of Sexual offences in 2024 were under 18 years when the incident occurred

In 2024, 50% of recorded victims of crime incidents of Sexual offences were aged under 18 years at the time of occurrence. This was more or less the same in 2023 and 2022 but lower than the 57% recorded in 2021. Persons who were aged between 18 and 29 years when the incident occurred accounted for 27% of recorded victims and 16% were aged between 30 and 44 years. The remainder (7%) were aged 45 years or over when the incident took place. See Figure 2.2, Table 2.2 and PxStat Table CVA04.

Just over a quarter of recorded victims of crime incidents of Murder or Manslaughter in 2024 were aged 60 years or more when the incident occurred

Of the 41 recorded victims of crime incidents of Murder or Manslaughter in 2024, 11 victims or 27% were at least 60 years of age when the incident occurred. Persons who were aged between 30 and 44 years accounted for 32% of all victims of this offence type with a further 20% belonging to the 45 to 59 year age group. Just over a fifth of victims (22%) were under 30 years of age at the time of the incident. See Table 2.2 and PxStat Table CVA04.

One in six recorded victims of crime incidents of Dangerous Driving leading to Death offences in 2024 were under 18 years of age when the incident occurred

In 2024, there were 36 recorded victims of crime incidents of Dangerous Driving Leading to Death. Of this, one sixth (17%) were under the age of 18 years when the incident occurred. A further 25% were aged between 30 and 44 years while 22% of victims were aged 60 years or more. Just under a fifth (19%) of victims were aged between 45 and 69 years at the time of the incident and 17% were aged between 18 and 29 years. See Figure 2.3,Table 2.2 and PxStat Table CVA04.

Three in ten recorded victims of crime incidents of Harassment & Related offences in 2024 were aged between 30 and 44 years when the incident occurred

In 2024, three out of every ten (31%) recorded victims of crime incidents of Harassment & Related offences were aged between 30 and 44 years when the incident occurred.

A further 26% of victims were in the 18-29 year age group and 20% were aged between 45 and 59 years. Victims who were Under 18 years when the incident occurred accounted for 17% of this offence group. The remaining 6% of victims were aged 60 years or more.

The age profile of recorded victims of incidents of Assaults and Attempts/Threat to Murder offences were broadly similar to those of Harassment & Related offences. See Figure 2.4,Table 2.2 and PxStat Table CVA04.

Increased share of victims reporting crime incidents of Sexual offences in 2024 referred to crime incidents that took place more than ten years previously

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 2.3.

In 2024, three in every ten (30%) of the 3,288 recorded victims of crime incidents of Sexual offences reported the incident more than 10 years after it occurred. This represented a higher share than the previous three years – it had been about 22% in both 2023 and 2022 and 26% in 2021. In absolute terms, there were 971 such victims of Sexual offences in 2024 and this rose from 646 victims in 2023. 

By contrast, while the number of recorded victims who reported the crime incident within a year of occurrence remained much the same at 1,925 between 2023 and 2024, the share of total victims declined, falling from 65% in 2023 to 59% in 2024.

The share of victims who reported incidents of Sexual offences in the intervening periods remained much the same between 2023 and 2024. See Figure 2.5, Table 2.3 and PxStat Table CVA05.

A near doubling of recorded male victims of historic crime incidents of Sexual offences between 2023 and 2024

Table 2.4 below shows the age profile of recorded male and female victims of crime incidents of Sexual offences according to the time period between when the crime incident occurred and when it was reported to An Garda Síochána (‘the crime incident reporting gap’).

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.

The number of recorded male victims of historic crime incidents of Sexual offences nearly doubled from 333 to 645 victims between 2023 and 2024. This accounted for most of the overall increase of 330 in the number of victims of these crime incidents in the same period.

As a result In 2024, the figure of 645 male victims accounted for 47% of all reported victims of historic crime incidents of Sexual offences and this was up from 32% in 2023 and 30% in 2022. Female victims represented 53% of reported victims of these crime incidents in 2024 and this was down from 68% in 2023 and 70% in 2022. See Figure 2.6, Table 2.4 and PxStat Table CVA06.

For recent crime incidents of Sexual offences, most recorded victims were female – 88% compared to 12% for male victims.

There were differences too between the age profiles of both male and female victims for recent and historic crime incidents of Sexual offences. Taking recent crime incidents first, 39% of male victims were aged under 18 years of age when the incident occurred compared with 28% for female victims. Four in every ten (39%) of female victims were in the 18-29 year age group compared with 32% for male victims. The difference was less pronounced when it came to victims aged 30 years or more. A third (33%) of female victims were of this age at the time of the incident compared with 29% for males.

For historic crime incidents of Sexual offences, there were distinct differences in the age profile of male and female victims. The majority (95%) of male victims were under 18 years when the incident occurred compared with two thirds (67%) of female victims. The remaining 5% of male victims were at least 18 years at the time of the incident compared with 35% for female victims. See Figure 2.7, Table 2.4 and PxStat Table CVA06.

Most male victims of historical crime incidents of Sexual offences were at least 30 years of age at the time of reporting

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 for 2024, as one would expect, lie in the profile of recorded victims of historic incidents of Sexual offences.

Taking males first, Table 2.4 above shows that in 2024, 95% of male victims of historic Sexual offences were under 18 years of age at the time of the incident and 2% were at least 30 years of age. However, when the age is taken at the time of reporting, 87% of male victims were aged 30 years or more while 7% were under 18 years of age. See Figure 2.8 and Table 2.5.

When you look at the profile of female victims of historic Sexual offences in 2024, the differences were less pronounced. Six in ten (59%) of female victims were at least 30 years of age at the time of reporting but a fifth (19%) were under 18 years of age. The remaining 23% were aged between 18 and 29 years. See Figure 2.8, Table 2.5 and PxStat Table CVA07.