Men responsible for 96 times as many sex offences as women

In 2021, 290 people were convicted of sexual offences across the north; 287 of those convicted were male; three were female.

The figures were released to Alliance MLA Nuala McAllister who asked Justice Minister Naomi Long for ‘a breakdown of convictions for sexual assault offences, in each of the last five years, broken down by the gender of the those convicted’.

The number of convictions rose from 172 in 2017 to 290 in 2021.

In 2017 less than three females were convicted meaning DoJ could not release details of the number of males convicted in order to 'prevent disclosure of a small number elsewhere'.

In 2018 there were 194 convictions: (190 male; four female); and in 2019 there were 234 convictions (228 male; six female). In 2020, DoJ again could not release details due to disclosure concerns.

Ms. Long said the figures relate to 'the number of convictions at courts, for cases involving sexual offences, as sexual assault can fall under a number of offence descriptions, that were dealt with in the period 2017 to 2021'.

She said the ‘figures relate to cases where at least one offence prosecuted was a sexual offence’ and that ‘this includes a range of sexual assault type offences, such as rape, indecent assault and others, as well as sexual offences which specifically are described as sexual assault’. She said ‘transgender and those with a non-specified gender are included within the ‘male’ category’.