January 19, 2026 | Incident and Crime Statistics , Arrests
Request Number: FOI/16526
Category: Incident and Crime Statistics - Arrests
Subject: Serious Self-Harm to a Child under Section 184 of the Online Safety Act 2023
Request and Answer:
Your request for information has now been considered. In respect of Section 1(1)(a) of the Act we can confirm that the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) does hold some information to which your request relates. The decision has been taken to disclose the following.
Question 1
How many arrests were made by your force in 2023 for the offence encouraging serious self-harm to a child under Section 184 of the Online Safety Act 2023?
Question 2
How many people were charged in your force area for this offence in 2023?
Answer 1 and 2
Enquiries made failed to locate any records in relation to these requests as Section 184 only came into force on 31st January 2024.
Question 3
How many arrests were made by your force in the annual year 2024 for the offence encouraging serious self-harm to a child under Section 184 of the Online Safety Act 2023?
Question 4
How many people were charged in your force area for this offence in 2024?
Question 5
How many arrests were made by your force in 2025 for the offence encouraging serious self-harm to a child under Section 184 of the Online Safety Act 2023?
Question 6
How many people were charged in your force area for this offence in 2025?
Answer 3-6
There have been no persons arrested or charged for the offence of Encouraging or Assisting Serious Self Harm (Section 184 of the Online Safety Act) where the victim was under 18 (self-harm to a child).