One crime in six committed last year by suspects out on bail
New figures show the proportion of crimes linked to individuals already out on bail while awaiting prosecution for other offences continued to grow during 2020, despite an overall drop in crime levels.
About one in six of all recorded crimes last year were committed by suspects who were on bail for other offences at the time.
New figures show the proportion of crimes linked to individuals already out on bail while awaiting prosecution for other offences continued to grow during 2020, despite an overall drop in crime levels.
The figures, which are based on the Garda Pulse system, show 16% of all crimes last year were incidents where at least one suspected offender was recorded as being on bail – up from 14% in 2019 and 12.4% in 2018.
They also reveal gardaí believe that almost one in five homicides during 2020 were carried out by individuals on bail. Such suspects were linked to 14 out of 75 cases of murder and manslaughter last year.
The figures provided by the Central Statistics Office in response to a parliamentary question to the Department of Justice from independent TD Noel Grealish, show more than 30,000 crimes last year were suspected to have been committed by individuals released from custody while awaiting prosecution for other offences.
The 2020 annual total is down on more than 31,400 offences committed in 2019 which were linked to suspects on bail but comes against a background which saw a reduction in most types of crime last year due to travel restrictions imposed to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.
Theft and public order offences account for more than half of all crimes suspected of being committed by someone on bail last year. Individuals on bail are believed to be responsible for a high proportion of particular crimes, including one in four of all firearms and explosives offences.
The latest figures show the proportion of public order offences by suspects out on bail has increased from 17% in 2018 to 28% last year. In contrast, few sexual offences appear to be committed by individuals on bail.
Only 22 out of more than 3,000 cases of rape and sexual assault reported to gardaí last year were linked to a suspect out on bail – a rate of less than 1%.
While the way in which suspected offenders are recorded by An Garda Síochána changed in early 2018, making figures from previous years not directly comparable, they nevertheless indicate the proportion of offences carried out by individuals on bail has been rising steadily over the past decade from a rate of 9% of all crimes in 2011.
- Homicide Offences - 14 - 18.7%
- Sexual Offences - 22 - 0.7%
- Attempts/Threats to Murder, Assaults - 1,384 - 7.3%
- Dangerous or Negligent Acts - 929 - 10.6%
- Kidnapping - 20 - 15.5%
- Robbery, Extortion and Hijacking - 292 - 16.0%
- Burglary - 1,272 - 11.7%
- Theft - 8,278 - 16.1%
- Fraud/Deception - 249 - 3.2%
- Controlled Drug Offences - 3,682 - 15.8%
- Weapons and Explosives Offences - 786 - 25.5%
- Damage to Property and to the Environment - 1,445 - 7.4%
- Public Order Offences - 8,003 - 27.6%
- Offences against Government, Justice Procedures and Organisation of Crime - 3,706 - 34.8%
- All Crimes - 30,082 - 16.0%
Mr Grealish, a TD for Galway West, has called on the Government to state what steps are being taken to restrict the granting of bail to serial or repeat offenders.
The Minister of State for Justice, Hildegarde Naughton, said the Criminal Justice Act 2017 strengthened the operation of the bail system “to make the law as effective as possible in protecting the public against crimes committed by persons on bail”.
Under the legislation, Ms Naughton said the courts were required to have regard to persistent serious offending by bail applicants and the nature and seriousness of any danger presented by the granting of bail to a person charged with an offence that carried a prison sentence of 10 years or more. The minister said the courts also had powers, in certain cases, to hear evidence from the victim of an offence before a decision on bail was taken.
“Where an accused person is granted bail, the act provides for stricter bail terms for repeat serious offenders, including the use of curfews and strengthens Garda powers to deal with breaches of bail,” she added.
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