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Access to Justice

Access to Justice

CSO statistical publication, , 11am

The CSO, through Ireland's Institute for SDGs (IIS), supports reporting on the Sustainable Development Goals.

SDG 16.3.1 Proportion of Victims of Violence in the Previous 12 Months who Reported their Victimisation to Competent Authorities or Other Officially Recognised Conflict Resolution Mechanisms

SDG 16.3.1 Proportion of victims of violence in the previous 12 months who reported their victimisation to competent authorities or other officially recognised conflict resolution mechanisms is published by the CSO, Crime Statistics. 

Crime and Victimisation - CSO

The CSO publishes data on Crime and Victimisation. The most recent report was Crime and Victimisation 2019 report. See chapter on Personal Crime.

Personal Crime
39%
39% of victims of personal crime reported to An Garda Síochána

About two in five (39%) people aged 18 and over who said that they had been a victim of personal crime in the 12 months before the interview had reported some of all of the incidents to An Garda Síochána. There was considerable variation in the level of reporting by different types of crime – people were most inclined to report incidents of violent thefts (67%) and least likely to report fraud incidents (19%) to An Garda Síochána. See Table 5.1.

5.1 - SDG 16.3.1 All Victims of Personal Crime Aged 18 Years and Over and who Reported All Incidents to An Garda Síochána by Type of Crime

Of those who reported being a victim of personal crime but said that they did not report all crimes to An Garda Síochána, the most common reason cited for not reporting was that the incident was not serious enough or that they had not suffered any loss (35% of victims who did not report). Other common reasons cited were that the victim said that they had solved it themselves (24%) or that they did not believe that An Garda Síochána could do anything about it (22%). See Table 5.2 and Figure 5.2.

5.2 - SDG 16.3.1 All Victims of Personal Crime Aged 18 Years and Over and did not Report All Crime Incidents to An Garda Síochána, by Reasons for not Reporting Incidents

Reason for not Reporting Some or All Incidents to An Garda Siochana %
Not Serious Enough/No Loss35
Solved It Myself (Knew the Perpetrator/Thief)24
Believed Gardai Could do Nothing22
Other Reasons19
Believed Gardai Wouldnt do Anything16
Did Not Wish to Involve the Gardai10
Feared Reprisal2

People who stated that they had been a victim of personal crime were asked whether they believed the incident took place because of any particular characteristics about themselves, such as age, gender, race etc. 93% of victims did not identify any such characteristics which they felt had motivated the crime. 4% of victims believed the crime was motivated by race, religion or ethnicity, while 3% stated that they felt the crime was motivated by gender and 2% said they felt that age had been a motivating factor.

Discrimination was felt to be a motivating characteristic by 7% of victims. See Table 5.3.

5.3 - SDG 16.3.1 All Victims of Personal Crime Aged 18 Years and Over, by Whether They Felt the Crime was Motivated by Discrimination

SDG 16.3.2 Unsentenced Detainees as a Proportion of Overall Prison Population

SDG 16.3.2 Unsentenced Detainees as a proportion of overall prison population is published by the Irish Prison Service.

Irish Prison Service

The Irish Prison Service Annual Report 2021, gives a snapshot of the prison population on 30th November 2021. Out of the total prison population of 3,806 on this date, 2,956 persons were ‘under sentence’. The remaining 846 persons were ‘remand/trial’ prisoners, accounting for 22.2% of prisoners.

The corresponding data for 2020 shows that there was a total prison population of 3,810, of which 3,059 were ‘under sentence’. The remaining 738 persons were ‘remand/trial’ prisoners, accounting for 19.4% of prisoners. See Table 5.4 and Figure 5.2.

Detailed information is available in the Annual Reports - Irish Prison Service which is updated annually using a snapshot date of the 30th November. Monthly Information is also available.

5.4 - SDG 16.3.2 Profile of Prisoners on the 30 November

2021
Immigration/Extradition Issues4
Under Sentence2956
Remand/Trial846

SDG 16.3.3 Proportion of the Population who have Experienced a Dispute in the past two years and who accessed a Formal or Informal Dispute Resolution Mechanism, by type of Mechanism

SDG 16.3.3 Proportion of the population who have experienced a dispute in the past two years and who accessed a formal or informal dispute resolution mechanism, by type of mechanism - no data is available at national level.

UN SDG Information

The UN SDG Indicators Database provides the following information on SDG 16.3.3 metadata.

Target

The target for this indicator is Target 16.3 which is to:

"Promote the rule of law at the national and international levels and ensure equal access to justice for all".

Definition

Number of persons who experienced a dispute during the past two years who accessed a formal or informal dispute resolution mechanism, as a percentage of all those who experienced a dispute in the past two years, by type of mechanism.

Concepts

A dispute can be understood as a justiciable problem between individuals or between individual(s) and an entity. Justiciable problems can be seen as the ones giving rise to legal issues, whether or not the problems are perceived as being “legal” by those who face them, and whether or not any legal action was taken as a result of the problem.

Categories of disputes can vary between countries depending on social, economic, political, legal, institutional and cultural factors. There are, however, a number of categories that have broad applicability across countries, such as problems or disputes related to:

  • Land or buying and selling property
  • Family and relationship break ups
  • Injuries or illnesses caused by an intentional or unintentional act or omission of another person or entity
  • Occupation/employment
  • Commercial transactions (including defective or undelivered goods or services)
  • Government and public services (including abuse by public officials)
  • Government payments
  • Housing (Tenancy and landlord)
  • Debt, damage compensation, and other financial matters
  • Environmental damage (land or water pollution, waste dumping, etc.)