FOI REF: FOI-2024-1874

You asked

Please can I have the statistics on perpetrators and victims by race and ethnicity of rape and sexual assult where the case has been solved between the years 2000-2008 and 2018-2023  in England and Wales taking the population into account for each ethnicity group. 

Please can I also have the statistics on perpetrators and victims by race and ethnicity of gang rape/sexual assult where the case has been solved between the years 2000-2008 and 2018-2023 in England and Wales taking the population into account for each ethnicity group. 

Please can I also have the statistics on perpetrators and victims by race and ethnicity of a hate crime where the case has been solved between the years 2000-2008 and 2018-2023  in England and Wales taking the population into account for each ethnicity group. 

We said

Thank you for your enquiry.  

We publish statistics from two main sources: the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) and police recorded crime. Both sources provide statistics on crime as they are experienced by victims, we do not generally publish data on the perpetrator. We therefore do not hold race/ethnicity data for the perpetrators of rape and sexual assault, gang rape/sexual assault or hate crime. 

Additionally, both data sources provide a picture of crime regardless of whether it has been proven in a court of law (solved). For more information on cases that have resulted in conviction specifically it may be worth contacting the Ministry of Justice via esd@justice.gov.uk

We do however publish some data in relation to the victim. Table 4 from our Sexual offences prevalence and victim characteristics, England and Wales tables provides data on the personal characteristics and sex of the victim. This includes a breakdown of ethnic group. Please note this demographic-level data is for the category ‘any sexual assault’ and is not broken down by different types of sexual assault, e.g. rape.  

We do not hold or publish any data in relation to gang rape/sexual assault specifically.  

Finally, in terms of hate crime, the ONS does not typically publish data on this topic. The main statistical publication on hate crime is the annual Home Office publication, ‘Hate Crime, England and Wales’. The most recent version of this publication, for the years 2022-2023, can be found here

This publication typically includes both police recorded crime and data from the CSEW. However, due to issues running the survey during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the CSEW has not contributed data since the 2019-20 version. Data from the 2019-20 publication can be found here

If you require more information on this publication, Home Office can be contacted via crimeandpolicestats@homeoffice.gov.uk

If you have any other questions, please email us at crimestatistics@ons.gov.uk and we will endeavour to help.