If you are affected by any of the issues raised in this survey, help is available from the following national helplines or from local/regional helplines which you can find in the Background Notes.
This chapter looks at those who experienced sexual violence as an adult and their interaction, or not, with the police. The experiences detailed in this chapter covers experiences which occurred over the age of consent in Ireland (17 years) which were shared in the survey by respondents who were aged 18 or over.
Sexual violence as an adult is defined as a range of non-consensual experiences, from non-consensual sexual touching to non-consensual sexual intercourse. See the Background Notes for further details.
Please note that the statistics quoted in this chapter relate to those who reported experiencing sexual violence as an adult and disclosed to someone and do not relate to the overall population of adults in Ireland.
Please also note that the term “police” is used in this chapter. This refers to An Garda Síochána or any other relevant policing authority in another country. This survey captures the prevalence of sexual violence for adults currently living in Ireland. Details relating to the sexual violence experience did not capture whether the experience happened in Ireland or another country, both for those who lived in a different country before moving to Ireland and for those who may have experienced sexual violence on a short-term period abroad. Hence the term “police” is used to acknowledge that the experience, and any related disclosure, may have occurred in a different policing jurisdiction to Ireland.
In terms of those who experienced sexual violence as an adult and disclosed to others, most adults (93%) did not disclose to the police. The most frequently selected reason they did not disclose to the police was that they thought that the experience was serious not enough, with almost six in 10 (59%) of adults choosing this. Almost a third of adults (32%) did not disclose an experience of sexual violence as an adult to the police because they felt ashamed or embarrassed, with a quarter reporting (25%) that they thought the police would not have been able to help.
Key findings for those who experienced sexual violence as an adult and disclosed to others by whether they disclosed to the police:
Age group | Not stated | No | Yes |
---|---|---|---|
18-24 | 1 | 94 | 5 |
25-34 | 2 | 96 | 2 |
35-44 | 0 | 96 | 4 |
45-54 | 3 | 92 | 5 |
55-64 | 2 | 87 | 11 |
Key findings for those who experienced sexual violence as an adult and disclosed to others, but not to the police, by the reasons why they did not disclose to the police:
Learn about our data and confidentiality safeguards, and the steps we take to produce statistics that can be trusted by all.