The number of recorded male victims of crime incidents of Sexual offences rose by 54% to 869 victims between 2023 and 2024, the CSO has reported, saying this increase related mainly to a near doubling of such crime incidents that were reported by males more than a year after the occurrence.
50% of all recorded victims of crime incidents of sexual offences in 2024 were under 18 years of age at the time of occurrence, the data showed. About one in every eight (12%) of the suspected offenders in such cases were under 18 years of age at the time of the incident, the CSO found.
In the statistics office’s latest release on crime victims and offenders, it says that in seven out of ten (70%) recorded crime incidents of sexual offences in 2023 that had been detected by 2025, the suspected offender was known to the victim.
The suspected offender was known to the victim in two-thirds (65%) of crime incidents of attempts/threats to murder, assaults, harassments & related offences in 2023 that were detected by 2025, the report added.
In 2024, three in every ten (30%) victims of crime incidents of sexual offences reported the incident more than 10 years after it occurred. This was up from 22% in 2023 and 21% in 2022, the CSO found.
Seven out of every ten (69%) crime incidents of harassment & related offences in 2023 that were detected by 2025 involved a female victim. In most cases, the suspected offender was a male.
The report is based on recorded crime data collected by An Garda Síochána on their PULSE system.
STATISTICIAN’S COMMENT
Commenting on the release, Jim Dalton, Statistician in the Crime & Criminal Justice Section, said: “Recorded Crime Victim statistics for 2024 and Suspected Offender statistics for 2023 published today show that the number of recorded male victims of crime incidents of Sexual offences increased by more than a half (54%) to 869 victims between 2023 and 2024. This rise related mainly to a near doubling, in the same period, of male victims of crime incidents of Sexual offences who reported the offence more than a year after occurrence.
A crime may be marked as detected when An Garda Síochána have identified at least one person responsible for committing the offence and that person has been issued 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.
The results also show that the suspected offender was known to the victim in seven out of ten (70%) recorded crime incidents of Sexual offences in 2023 that had been detected by 2025. In two-thirds (65%) of detected crime incidents of Attempts/Threats to Murder, Assaults, Harassments & Related offences, the suspected offender was known to the victim.
REPORTING
Historic crime incidents of Sexual offences refer to those which were reported more than one year after the occurrence while recent crime incidents refer to those reported within one year of the occurrence.
The number of recorded male victims of crime incidents of Sexual offences rose by 303 or 54% to 869 victims between 2023 and 2024. This was due to a near doubling of male victims reporting historic crime incidents of this type of offence, which rose from 333 victims to 645 victims for the same period.
The number of female victims of this type of offence increased marginally from 2,387 in 2023 to 2,419 victims in 2024. 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, down 11 from the 88 victims recorded 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 offences in 2024 were male while 26% were females.
There were 24,142 recorded victims of crime incidents of Attempts/Threats to Murder, Assaults, Harassments & 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 with 38% for females. Nearly seven in ten (69%) victims of crime incidents of Harassment & Related offences were female compared with 31% for males. There was a more even distribution between males (52%) and females (48%) for crime incidents of Attempts/Threat to Murder offences.
RELATIONSHIP
The suspected offender was known to the victim in seven out of every ten (70%) recorded crime incidents of Sexual offences in 2023 that had been detected by 2025. For detected crime incidents of Attempts/Threats to Murder, Assaults, Harassments & Related offences, two-thirds (65%) involved a suspected offender who was known to the victim, the report showed.
“Looking at the nature of the relationship in more detail, we found that in 16% of detected crime incidents of Sexual offences, the suspected offender was a friend or acquaintance of the victim and was a blood relative in 13% of incidents.”
“Current or former intimate partners or spouses accounted for 8% of all suspected offenders for this type of offence. The share for other suspected offenders known to the victim was 18% and this relationship category would be considered less personal in nature to the above categories. The suspected offender was a stranger to the victim in three out of every ten (30%) such detected crime incidents.”
“When looking at detected crime incidents of Attempts/Threats to Murder, Assaults, Harassments & Related offences, friends or acquaintances accounted for 13% of suspected offenders. Current or former intimate partners and spouses accounted for 8% and 6% respectively of suspected offenders. The share of blood relatives among suspected offenders was 7% while it was 5% for people in a position of authority or in a care relationship with the victim. The share for other suspected offenders known to the victim was 23%. In more than a third (35%) of such crime incidents, the suspected offender was a stranger to the victim.”
AGE OF SUSPECTED OFFENDER
A quarter (23%) of suspected offenders of crime incidents of Harassment & Related offences in 2023 that were detected by 2025 were under 18 years when the crime incident took place, the national statistics office said.”
“Crime incidents of Harassment & Related offences would include coercion or coercive control, harassment, incitement to hatred, distributing/publishing/recording intimate image(s), distribution of grossly offensive communications to cause harm and recording intimate image(s) to cause interference or alarm.”
“Six out of every ten (62%) of suspected offenders for crime incidents of Sexual offences in 2023 that were detected by 2025 were aged between 18 and 44 years of age when the incident occurred. About one in every eight (12%) suspected offenders were under 18 years of age at the time of the incident.”
“Turning to assault crime incidents from 2023 that have been detected, nearly two-thirds (65%) of suspected offenders of this offence type were aged between 18 and 44 years and 16% were under 18 years when the incident took place.”
“Similar to detected crime incidents of assault, two-thirds (65%) of suspected offenders of crime incidents of detected Homicide & Related offences from 2023 were aged between 18 and 44 years when the incident occurred.”
PROFILE OF VICTIM AND OFFENDER
The CSO’s profile of suspected offenders and victims is based on linking a victim and suspected offender to produce a limited profile (i.e. age and sex) of the victim and suspected offender relationship.
“When this was done for crime incidents recorded in 2023 but detected by 2025, we found that seven out of ten (69%) detected crime incidents of Harassment & Related involved a female victim. The suspected offender was male in nine out of every ten (87%) crime incidents of this type.”
“For crime incidents of assault in 2023 that were marked detected, there were more male (61%) than female victims (39%). Where the suspected offender was male, 54% of all victims were male and 25% were female. For the remaining cases where the suspected offender was female, 14% of all victims were female and 6% were male.”
“Most (84%) recorded crime incidents of Sexual offences in 2023 that were marked detected in 2025 involved a male suspected offender and female victim. However, the suspected offender and victim were both male in 15% of such crime incidents.”
“Two-thirds (65%) of recorded crime incidents of Homicide & Related offences in 2023 that were detected by 2025 involved both a male suspected offender and a male victim.”