Majority of suspects in detected crimes last year were men, says CSO
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Males were the suspected offender for the majority of detected crimes in 2022, new data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has found.
The CSO has released detection statistics for 2022, noting that they were equal or just below the 2021 rates.
According to the CSO, a crime may be marked as detected when gardaí 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.
When broken down by different crimes, the data found that males were the suspected offender in:
- 97% of sexual offences
- 92% of robbery, extortion & hijacking offences,
- 90% of burglary and related offences,
- 84% of homicide offences,
- 80% of attempts/threats to murder, assaults, harassment and related offences.
The National Women's Council said that the data reflecte that violence against women was a "epidemic" in Ireland.
Ivanna Youtchak, NWC’s Violence Against Women Coordinator, said: "The government’s Zero Tolerance Strategy is an excellent start and addresses prevention, protection, prosecution and policy coordination against violence against women. It also recognises that is only through a society wide effort we will achieve real change.
"However, gaps in resourcing and implementation remain.
"Prevention is key in eliminating violence against women; that involves education in schools, outreach with hard-to-reach communities, and importantly, it also involves men standing up against attitudes which condone violence against women.”
Rachel Morrogh, CEO of Dublin Rape Crisis Centre said: “Victims of sexual violence face a long road to justice and the figures published today add further evidence for the important role of survivor-centred supports.
"Survivors of sexual violence may be discouraged by the long waits and uncertain outcomes following a report of rape or sexual assault, but we encourage anyone who needs support to report a crime or to prepare for a court hearing to call the National Helpline on 1800 77 88 88 for support and information.
“Thankfully the new DSGBV Agency which is due to start work in early 2024 will coordinate and progress some of the work that is needed and we look forward to that getting underway.”
Females were the suspected offender in just over a third (36%) of detected theft and related offences and for almost a quarter (24%) of offences involving fraud and deception.
In terms of locations, the recorded crime rate in the Dublin Metropolitan region in 2022 was generally higher than other regions.
Some 42,987 crimes were detected in the Southern Region — which includes Cork, Kerry and Limerick. 11,719 of these were theft and related offences.
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— Central Statistics Office Ireland (@CSOIreland) November 20, 2023
The data shows that the detection rate for most categories of crime recorded in 2022 were at or just below 2021 recorded crime detection rates when measured at the same point of time.
"In addition, the detection rates for crime incidents reported in 2021 for a number of offence groups when measured in September 2023 did not change significantly from when measured 12 months earlier," said CSO statistician Jim Dalton.
The CSO measures detection rates eight months after the end of a particular year to ensure consistency in the measurement of detections over time.