Tough lockdown restrictions may be behind slight decrease in reported sexual offences in Kildare

Strict lockdown restrictions may be the cause of a slight decrease in reported sexual offences in Kildare, according to the CEO of the Rape Crisis Centre (RCC).

Noeline Blackwell told The Leinster Leader her thoughts on recent findings released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

The CSO confirmed that a total of 74 sexual offences were recorded in Kildare, within the first six months of the year.

It also said that all data under Quarter Two is under reservation*.

Ms Blackwell explained that the CSO collects figures from the Garda recording system: "The 74 sexual offences recorded in the first half of 2021 will be the offences which complainants have brought to the Gardaí."

"This is not necessarily 74 complainants, as a complainant may have complained of more than one offence. This remains something on which we lack clarity."

A slight decrease:

Ms Blackwell said that the the small decrease over last year is "probably not significant", at 3.7 per cent in less than 100 cases.

She added: "Even so, it is notable that there has been a trend since COVID-19 hit which has seen a small reduction in the number of offences reported."

"In 2020, the national average reduction was 3.1 per cent."

Ms Blackwell continued: "It is a feature of sexual offences that they are often reported some time after the offences are committed."

"This is for many reasons - fear, reluctance to report someone known and/or trusted by the victim, not being ready for the intrusion into their private lives so the reports don't always reflect activity in real time."

An "interesting" finding:

She also informed The Leader that one of the RCC's "interesting" findings, was that the organisation also saw a reduction in the number of calls at the periods of most restriction.

Ms Blackwell believes the reason behind this incidence to be down to the RCC's helpline becoming busier when people had the privacy, the space, and the lack of other worries.

"The reporting of crime may be in the same space. Only time will tell," she added.

The figures:

In total, 39 sexual offences, including 33 incidents of rape and sexual assault, were reported between January and March.

Meanwhile, 35 incidents, including 27 reports of rape & sexual assault, were recorded between April and June.

The number of offences is down by 5 incidents, or 3.9 per cent.

CSO view:

Commenting on the news, Statistician Sam Scriven, who works for the Crime and Justice Statistics division of the CSO, confirmed that these figures were correct.

He added that the figures are based on data sources from PULSE, and are also categorised as Statistics Under Reservation.

Mr Scriven explained: "The number of crime incidents in Kildare Division recorded on PULSE which were classified as Sexual Offences was 39 and 35 for Q1 and Q2 of 2021 respectively."

However, he did reveal one disconcerting fact to The Leader: "These figures were higher than the 25 and 23 recorded for Q3 and Q4 of 2020 respectively."

"Overall, the number of sexual offences recorded in the year to Q2 (that is, 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2021) was slightly lower than in the previous year (1 July 2019 to 30 June 2020), from 127 to 122 incidents," he added.

*NOTE: Since March 2018, the CSO has applied a categorisation of Statistics Under Reservation to Recorded Crime statistics to inform users that:

• The CSO has concerns about the quality of the data source
• Statistics compiled from the source may understate or overstate the actual occurrence of reported crime
• Statistics may be subject to revision in subsequent publications

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can call Samaritans Ireland at 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.ie, or you can contact the Rape Crisis Centre by clicking here.

Help is always at hand and there is always someone available to listen.