Recorded Crime Victims 2025 and Suspected Offenders 2024

Statistician's Comment

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (14 May 2026) published Recorded Crime Victims 2025 and Suspected Offenders 2024, based on recorded crime data collected by An Garda Síochána (AGS) on their PULSE system.

Commenting on the release, Jim Dalton, Statistician in the Crime & Criminal Justice Section, said: “Recorded Crime Victims 2025 and Suspected Offenders 2024 published today show the number of recorded victims of crime incidents of Homicide & Related offences fell from 88 to 66 victims between 2024 and 2025 while those of Sexual offences fell from 3,351 to 2,991 victims. The number of victims of crime incidents of Attempts/Threats to Murder, Assaults, Harassments & Related offences rose from 24,451 to 24,815 over the period.

A crime may be marked as detected when AGS have identified at least one person responsible for committing the offence and that person has been issued with a charge or summons, a formal or informal caution, or a fixed payment notice. This person is termed as a suspected offender. Data on suspected offenders is published with a one-year time lag to allow time for criminal investigations to progress. 

When the profiles of victims and suspected offenders for detected crime incidents of these offence groups are combined, we found that the suspected offender was known to the victim in 70% of recorded crime incidents of Sexual offences in 2024 that had been detected by 2026. In 63% of detected crime incidents of Attempts/Threats to Murder, Assaults, Harassments & Related offences, the suspected offender was known to the victim.

The statistics in this release relate only to crime incidents that have been reported to AGS and recorded on their PULSE system. While these statistics provide data on the reported level of crime for these offence groups, they do not provide an indicator of the overall prevalence of crime, given there is likely to be an element of under reporting in many crime types, such as those related to Sexual offences, Fraud, or Assault. Please see Background Notes for further information.

Recorded Victims and Suspected Offenders of Crime Incidents of Sexual Offences

• Of the 2,991 recorded victims in 2025, 80% were female and 20% were male, and 46% of all victims were under 18 years of age when the incident occurred.
• Nearly two-thirds (64%) of victims reported the incident less than a year after it occurred while 22% reported the incident more than a decade after occurrence.
• Males were the suspected offender for 99% of crime incidents of this type in 2024 that were detected by March 2026 and were mainly aged between 18 and 59 years at the time of occurrence.
• The suspected offender was mostly known to the victim and was a mere acquaintance (‘other suspected offender known to the victim’) in 19% of detected crime incidents of this type, a further 17% were a blood relative, and 12% were in a position of authority or with care responsibilities.
• For victims under the age of 18 years at the time of occurrence, the suspected offender was more likely to be a blood relative (33%), person in authority or with care responsibilities (21%), or other suspected offender known to the victim (24%).
• For the older age groups, strangers were more prominent as the suspected offender, accounting for 53% for victims aged 18-29 years and 41% for those aged 30 years or more. This compares with 11% for victims under 18 years of age.
• The suspected offender was a stranger for 48% of such detected crimes that were reported less than a year after occurrence and a blood relative for 38% of crime incidents that were reported a year or more after occurrence.

Recorded Victims and Suspected Offenders of Crime Incidents of Attempts/Threats to Murder, Assaults, Harassments & Related Offences

• Overall, 59% of recorded victims of crime incidents of Attempts/Threats to Murder, Assaults, Harassments & Related offences in 2025 were male and 41% were female.
• However, 66% of victims of detected crime incidents of Harassment & Related offences were female compared with 34% for male. Males were the suspected offender for 78% of crime incidents of this overall offence group in 2024 that were detected by March 2026 and all but 14% of the suspected offenders were at least 18 years when the incident occurred.
• One in six (16%) detected crime incidents of Harassment & Related offences involved victims and suspected offenders under 18 years of age at the time of occurrence.
• While 37% of suspected offenders were strangers to the victim for the overall offence group, 23% were classified as ‘other suspected offender known to the victim’ (less personal in nature to the other categories where the suspected offender was known to the victim).
• A further 13% of suspected offenders were a current or former partner/spouse and 11% were a friend or acquaintance.
• The suspected offender was a friend or acquaintance for 25% of victims under the age of 18 years when the incident occurred.

Recorded Victims and Suspected Offenders of Crime Incidents of Homicide & Related Offences

• Of the 66 victims in 2025, 40 were victims of Murder or Manslaughter and 26 were of Dangerous Driving leading to Death.
• There were 47 male and 19 female victims of crime incidents of Homicide & Related offences in 2025.
• Males were the suspected offender for 82% of crime incidents of Homicide & Related offences in 2024 that had been detected by March 2026.
• The majority (89%) of victims of detected crime incidents of Homicide & Related offences in 2024 that were linked to suspected offenders aged 18 years and over were also at least 18 years of age when the incident occurred.”