Children responsible for fifth of sexual offences reported in 2018 - CSO
Children were responsible for almost one-fifth of all sexual offences reported to gardaí in 2018.
And under 18s were responsible for 6.3% of homicides and 15.9% of other violent crimes, including attempts or threats to murder, assaults, harassment, and related offences.
The figures were included in a new crime data set released by the CSO. The release is the first of its kind in Ireland as it focuses on the age and gender of crime victims and suspected offenders. The data relates to incidents in 2018 and 2019.
It confirms that females are the victim in more than 80% of sexual violence crimes and that 98% of the perpetrators are male, while it also revealed men are the victim in more instances of non-sexual violence, including homicides and physical assaults.
The dataset showed consistency in the profile of victims in recent years. In each of the last four years, females have been the victim of more than 80% of recorded sexual violence incidents and approximately 40% of physical assaults.
When it comes to non-sexual violent offences, the majority of victims are male, including 82% of homicide victims and 59% of physical assault victims. More than 70% of homicide cases involved a male killing another male in 2019.
More than one-third of homicide victims are aged 30-44 and 10.2% were over 60, while some two-thirds of physical assault victims were aged 18-44, and a further 14.3% were aged under 18.
Of homicide offences in 2018, almost half of suspected offenders were between 18 and 29 years at the time.
Of the sexual violence crimes reported to gardaí in 2019, 62% had occurred within the previous year. However, 24% of sexual crimes reported occurred at least ten years before the victim went to the gardaí.
Nine-out-of-ten victims of recent sexual violence crimes were female, and one-third were under 18 at the time of the offence. The number of male victims reporting recent sexual violence was significantly lower - 197 males to 1,538 females - but almost half of cases related to a victim under 18.
More than 1,500 (55.4%) victims of reported sexual violence in 2019 were under the age of 18 at the time the offence occurred, while a further 729 (25.9%) were aged 18-29.
