PPS publishes latest statistical bulletin on cases involving sexual offences

The Public Prosecution Service (PPS) today published its Statistical Bulletin: Cases Involving Sexual Offences 2023/24 which presents key statistics in relation to the prosecution of sexual offences, including caseloads and prosecutorial decisions. It also includes statistics on the outcomes of prosecutions at court involving these offences.

The Bulletin presents key statistics for the 2023/24 financial year (i.e., 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024) and includes comparisons with the 2022/23 financial year. It provides a statistical overview of all sexual offences, including an analysis of cases involving rape.

Key findings

During the 2023/24 financial year: 

• The PPS received a total of 1,615 files involving a sexual offence. This was a decrease of 13.1% on 2022/23 (1,858). There was a decrease of 7.2% in the number of files received involving an offence of rape, from 684 to 635
• Files received included a total of 1,681 suspects, 650 of whom were charged or reported for rape (a decrease of 7.8% on 2022/23) and 1,031 were in respect of other sexual offences (a decrease of 16.2%)
• 1,857 prosecutorial decisions were issued by the PPS in respect of suspects in cases involving sexual offences. The Test for Prosecution was met in respect of 32.2% of decisions, which included 598 decisions for prosecution or diversion from the courts. At 32.2%, the percentage of decisions meeting the Test represents an increase from 2022/23 (27.3%)
• Of the 1,259 no prosecution decisions issued during 2023/24, the vast majority (99.2%) did not pass the evidential test. The remaining 0.8% did not pass the public interest test
• Median days for the issue of indictable prosecution decisions (prosecution in the Crown Court) in cases involving sexual offences was 212 calendar days (272 days in 2022/23). Median days for summary prosecution decisions (prosecution in the Magistrates’ or Youth Courts) was 41 days (36 in 2022/23)
• A total of 270 defendants were dealt with in the Crown Court in cases involving sexual offences. The overall conviction rate was 72.2% compared with 69.3% in 2022/23
• Eighty-six defendants were dealt with in the Crown Court for an offence of rape and fifty-four (62.8%) of these were convicted of at least one offence (i.e., any offence). Twenty-six defendants (30.2%) were convicted of an offence of rape.
• A total of 219 defendants were dealt with in the Magistrates’ and Youth Courts for a sexual offence during 2023/24. The overall conviction rate was 72.1% compared with 73.6% in 2022/23

Further information
This summary should be read in conjunction with the explanatory notes (see Tables) and user information provided (see pages 14 - 15 of the Statistical Bulletin). Please also refer to the supporting document to this release Sexual Offences Classification (Offence Description and Legislation) available on the PPS website at Thematic-bulletins-sexual-offences.

These are ‘Official Statistics’ as defined in Section 6 of the Statistics and Registration Services Act 2007. Statisticians from the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency are on loan to the PPS and are responsible for ensuring that the statistics produced comply with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. 

The information presented in this bulletin is derived from the Case Management System, the main operational system within the PPS. This is a ‘live’ system with data being input on a daily basis. 

The full bulletin may be viewed or downloaded here: Thematic-bulletins-sexual-offences. Any member of the public may comment on the report by contacting PPS as follows: 

Media Enquiries please contact PPS Communications at: PPSPressOffice@ppsni.gov.uk 
 

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