FOI reference: FOI-2026-3519
You asked
I am making a request under Freedom of Information Act 2000 to share statistical/data records of "Kurdish" ethnicity as a distinct category, sub-category, or write-in response within any criminal justice administrative datasets.
If such data is held, please provide, for each year from 2020 to the most recent available:
Data to provide perspectives of the typical experiences of Kurdish ethnic group, in relation to general population/other ethnic groups and how this has changes over the last few years.
The areas of focus with offense-related matters. This is to include: Victimisation, Police Activity, Defendants and Court Outcomes, Offender Management, Offender Characteristics, Offender Analysis, In Custody, On Remand, Imprisonments, and Practitioners etc.
Other areas of interests: stop and search, arrests, prosecutions, convictions, remand in custody, custodial sentences and prison population and offender nature/type.
If Kurdish ethnicity is not separately identified, please confirm this explicitly, and provide and available data where Kurdish may be included within broader categories (e.g. other ethnic groups), along with an explanation of those categories.
We said
Thank you for your request.
You can find Kurdish population data from 2021 Census data available for download on NOMIS, under the category ‘SP105 - Kurdish’. We do not hold any further data on experiences of the Kurdish ethnic group.
We primarily produce crime statistics from two main sources:
Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) - a household victimisation survey that asks respondents about their experiences of crime, regardless of whether the incident was reported to the police
Police Recorded Crime (from the Home Office) - offences that are reported to and/or recorded by police forces in England and Wales.
We do not generally produce statistics or details on the perpetrators.
CSEW respondents are asked to make a choice from a card to identify their ethnic background using the standard National Statistics harmonised classification; this classification does not include a separate category for Kurdish ethnicity. The standard demographic tables released annually provide breakdowns by ethnic background.
It is possible that CSEW respondents may have chosen ‘Other ethnic group’ or ‘Other Asian background’. Our Crime in England and Wales: Annual supplementary tables present crime estimates, perception of crime and worry about crime by ethnicity. Our Perception and experience of police and criminal justice system, England and Wales also presents further information on perception and experience of the police, including stop and search, by ethnicity.
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) are primarily responsible for data on offenders. They publish Statistics each quarter which may be of help to you. You may find their report Statistics on Ethnicity and the Criminal Justice System 2022 of use. You may also want to have a look at the MoJ’s outcomes by offence data tool: Sept 2025. It allows you to filter it by offence and ethnicity to find the convictions and sentenced numbers.
If you have any questions, the Ministry of Justice may be able to help you further and can be contacted at CJS_Statistics@justice.gov.uk