Lenient sentences are putting victims off reporting sex crimes and are sending out the wrong messages, the Rape Crisis Network has warned.

The judiciary do not operate in a vacuum. Any judge whose habitual conduct shocks the public will have a detrimental effect on justice, writes Dan Buckley

Every society has a set of mores around sex, every society has a code of behaviour and if it is breached there are usually pretty severe consequences.

A Louth resident who committed a random violent sexual attack on a teenager as the victim’s friend tried to rescue her has escaped jail on condition he pay €15,000 to the girl.