The Central Statistics Office has, for the first time, published figures giving a breakdown of criminal offenders by age and gender.

The figures are from 2018, and show that 98% of suspected offenders of crimes of sexual violence were male. Just over 80% of those suspected of carrying out physical assaults or related crimes were also male. The figure for suspected homicide offenders was 87.5% male.

Victims

“Just one in 50 suspected offenders in sexual violence crimes in 2018 was female,” said statistician Sam Scriven.

19% of those suspected of committing crimes of sexual violence were aged under 18 when the crime took place.

The statistics office also published figures on crime victims for last year, which show that 82% of homicide victims were male, while 81% of sexual assault victims were female. 59% of those who suffered physical assaults were male.

'Under reservation'

80% of crimes of sexual violence involved a suspected male offender and a female victim.

Almost a quarter of sexual violence crime reported to An Garda Síochána in 2019 referred to incidents which took place ten or more years before being reported.

The CSO categorises these statistics, along with other recorded crime figures, as ‘under reservation’, indicating that their quality does not meet the body’s usual standards. This has been due to concerns about the recording of data on the Garda’s PULSE system.