Almost a third of sex offenders jailed got terms of two years and less

IPS figures show out of 187, only two received sentences of 15-20 years

Only two of the 187 sex offenders jailed last year got sentences of 15-20 years.

Almost one-third of the 187 sex offenders to receive a prison term last year received jail terms of two years and less in the courts.

That is according to figures released by the Irish Prison Service (IPS) which show that only two sex offenders received jail terms of 15-20 years.

The figures show that 57 sex offenders received jail terms of two years and less and they include 23 sex offenders who received jail terms of one year and less.

Last year, the 187 sex offenders sentenced to prison, including only two women, was an increase of 9% on the 172 jailed in 2018.

The figures released in response to a Freedom of Information request show that a further 66 received jail terms of between two and five years, with 48 receiving jail terms of between five and ten years.

Fourteen sex offenders received prison terms of between 10 and 15 years.

The IPS FOI unit response states that there are currently 433 sex offenders imprisoned that include 325 jailed at the Midlands prison and 102 at Arbour Hill prison.

The figures provided by the IPS show that 37 sex offenders have been jailed for the first six months of this year.

The decrease follows the Covid-19 impact on the court system which has prevented a large number of trials from proceeding this year.

Commenting of the 2019 figures, chief executive of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, Noeleen Blackwell said on Tuesday that the numbers sentenced and currently in jail “still seems extraordinary small given the level of sexual violence that is happening out there and it points to the extreme low level of reporting by victims”.

Ms Blackwell said “the numbers of sex offenders in jail is tiny".

We have a system that is not hearing most of the sexual offences crimes happening in the country.

She said: “The justice system has not made the accommodations for those victims that it needs to make and as long as it fails to do that, our prison population will not properly reflect the level of criminality of sexual offences taking place in the country."

Ms Blackwell said that the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre had just over 7,000 first contact calls last year.

Ms Blackwell said there remains a very low percentage of sex offenders who undergo treatment in prison: “A lot of sex offenders are leaving prison at the end of their sentences without any insight into their crimes and the harm done.”