Take a moment to imagine who you think the typical perpetrator of a sex crime is.
Let us guess: you were thinking of a creepy older male in his 60’s who lures kids into his basement using candy and ice cream?
While there is some truth to that imagery, it’s not the full picture. In fact, according to the Garda—what the Republic of Ireland call their FBI—children under 18 years of age were confirmed or suspect perpetrators in almost 20% of all sexual crimes reported by complainants in 2019.
Yeah, you heard us right: almost 20% of all sex crimes were perpetrated by children in 2019, in Ireland.