Northern Ireland court proceedings and sentencing data sources do not include victim information in relation to the commission of an offence. It is therefore possible only to provide information for those offences which, by their definition, identify a child as the victim. Average sentence lengths (in months) for those convicted of and given immediate custody for sexual offences against children are given in the table. Data cover the calendar years 1995 to 2004, the latter being the most up-to-date available at present.
It is not possible from the available data to determine the time served in custody by each individual sentenced.
Offence 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 20041 Gross indecency with child 11.8 4.0 0 21.0 0 18.4 18.0 13.5 27.6 16.7 Buggery with boy under 16 years 0 0 0 0 0 24.0 24.0 72.0 84.0 106.5 Buggery with girl 0 0 0 0 36.0 84.0 0 0 0 24.0 Unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl under 14 0 24.0 60.0 0 10.0 23.0 108.0 48.0 60.0 20.0 Unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl under 17 7.5 4.0 30.5 12.0 0 4.5 12.0 9.0 0 0 Incest by man with female under 14 years 0 0 0 0 0 90.0 84.0 0 0 0 Indecent assault on female child 0 0 0 46.0 54.0 19.6 14.5 15.0 16.0 18.0 Indecent assault on male child 0 0 0 21.0 48.0 20.0 12.0 0 0 48.0 Distributing indecent photographs of children 0 0 0 0 0 7.5 14.0 36.0 0 12.0 Possessing indecent photographs of child(ren) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.0 Taking indecent photograph or pseudo photographs of children 0 0 0 0 0 0 84.0 8.0 24.0 7.0 Copying indecent photograph or pseudo photographs of children 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12.0 Making indecent photograph or pseudo photographs of children 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9.0 1 Excludes one person sentenced to Juvenile Justice Centre Order for indecent assault on male child. Note: Data are collated on the principal offence rule; thus only the most serious offence with which an offender is charged is included.