Knife Crime In The UK

Since 2010/11, knife crime has been steeply increasing within the UK. In the year ending March 2023, there were an estimated 50,500 incidents that involved a knife or sharp instrument.

There was a slight drop in the number of knife crimes in 2020/21, likely due to a result of the national lockdowns. However, with the lifting of Covid restrictions, offences are nearly back to pre-lockdown levels. In this article, we will be looking at knife crime in the UK, and what the government is doing to prevent it.

What Is Knife Crime In The UK?

Generally, knife crime is interpreted as serious violence involving knives, though this isn’t always the case. Realistically, knife crime is a much more general term that refers to crimes involving knives or other sharp objects.

Incidents that would fall into the category include:

• Carrying a knife
• Owning banned knives
• Attempting to buy or sell a knife to someone under the age of 18
• Threatening or causing harm with a knife
• Any other crime involving a knife or sharp instrument

It is crucial to remember that knife crime doesn’t just mean homicides or violence but instead includes many milder offences. However, we understand that this can be difficult when media headlines will often cover the worst-case scenario, over the much less severe cases of knife crime in the UK.

What Are The Reasons For Knife Crime Rates UK?

As things currently stand, there are multiple factors that contribute towards the UK knife crime rate. There is no set answer as to why there has been an increase in the number of offences since 2010/11.

Some of the factors that contribute to the climbing crime rates are:

Falling Police Numbers

The chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, Gavin Stephens, had claimed that police were cutting crime. However, the severe lack of funding and an estimated £3.2 billion cash deficit were the causes of a drop in performance.

This likely results from the 2010 budget cut, which the police force still struggles to recover from after seeing a loss of 23,500 officers. Even today, the cuts still actively affect the force’s performance, with roughly 6,000 officers needing to work away from the frontlines to fill gaps elsewhere.

The rise in crime correlates with the budget slashing, as the rise began its steep increase in 2010/11, and has been rising ever since.

However, there are preventative measures which can be put in place to help reduce knife crime stats UK, including CCTV and security guards.

Evolving Street Gangs

Over the years, changes have been observed in the way that gangs operate. In more recent years, there has been a shift in focus towards money-making through illegal acts, like drug trafficking and robbery.

One of the most frightening shifts seen in street gangs, however, is the age of the gang members. Before, it was common for gang members to leave once they had reached a certain age, typically around the threshold of 21-22. However, now, they are continuing to stick around past this. Gangs are also beginning to attack younger members, meaning an increase in group sizes in general.

These factors have led to a hostile and competitive environment within gangs, where members want to climb to the top much quicker. This spurs instances of violence much more frequently than before.

Violent Media Influences

Another leading contributor to British knife crime statistics is the media. In a day and age where media has become so easily accessible to people of all ages, it comes as no surprise that this can influence certain audiences. Media can include films, TV, music and video games.

Studies have been performed that show an influence between violent media and aggression in individuals, though many experts still challenge how accurate the results really are. Most people question how much evidence is really needed to prove the link between media violence and real-world violence.

Social Media And Knife Crime

Social media is a growing influence on young people, making them feel the need to behave in certain ways. Most of this results from peer pressure, and the need to feel like they’re cool or else they’ll be excluded from their friend groups.

Videos and photos of knives are often posted on social media platforms, which can result in them knowing where to find weapons, or where to carry them. Incidents of knife crime sometimes break out from social media conflicts, due to altercations getting blown out of proportion.

Self Defence And Protection

An unfortunate result of all these other factors is that people begin to feel afraid. People may become exposed to the statistics or incidents and feel frightened as a result. This makes them feel the need to carry around ‘defence’ that is similar in nature to the threats they feel exposed to.

However, self-defence is not recognised as a valid reason to be carrying an offensive weapon in the UK. This means it still falls under the knife crime category, no matter how harmless the intentions with the weapon may have been.

Knife Crime Rates UK

As previously established, the total number of knife crimes recorded in 2023/24 was 50,500 across England and Wales. However, upon closer inspection of the crime rates by police force area, we can come to understand which areas are struggling the most against the crime.

Highest UK Knife Crime Rate

In a study performed by the Office for National Statistics, it was discovered that the West Midlands had the highest knife crime rates. The rate for the area was 178 per 100,000 people, an increase of 16% compared to the rates in 2021/22.

This was followed by Cleveland in second place, which was found to have a rate of 159 crimes per 100,000. In third place is Greater London, covered by the Metropolitan Police. Their crime rate for 2022/23 was 145 per 100,000 daytime population.

Fortunately, other areas that follow after these see a considerable drop in crime rate, meaning they see much less knife crime in total.

Lowest Knife Crime Stats UK

In comparison, Cumbria, Dorset and North Yorkshire had the three lowest British knife crime statistics. Cumbria’s crime rate is 41 per 100,000 daytime population. This is a drastic difference when directly compared to the three police force areas with the highest knife crime rates.

Dorset has a crime rate of 40 knife crimes per 100,000 people in second place. Of the police force areas, North Yorkshire had the lowest rate in 2022/23, at 35 per 100,000 people.

These statistics compare much better to the highest crime rates across England and Wales. However, it is important to remember that these stats only account for knife crime, and no other categories.

Knife Crime Campaigns

In an attempt to tackle the issue of rising knife crime in the UK, several government initiatives and campaigns have been put in place. Some examples have been:

Weapon Surrender Bins

One of the main initiatives deployed across the United Kingdom is weapon surrender bins. These bins have been installed at various locations across the UK, including on the streets and at local police stations. Here, you can safely dispose of any weapons in your possession, which can help to save lives.

In April 2023, two new bins were installed in Bristol, as requested by locals. There were already 13 amnesty bins within the area, which are all located near police stations or local authority buildings. From 2016 to 2023, there were around 4,000 knives and other weapons disposed of through these bins.

They offer an anonymous and prejudice-free area to dispose of any potentially dangerous objects in their possession, whether it’s old kitchen knives or much more threatening weapons.

Lives Not Knives

Lives Not Knives is a charity that aims to educate young people to improve their lives and discourage them from knife crime and other violent offences. They mostly target 9 to 14-year-olds, actively engaging with them through multiple methods in order to effectively educate them.

The charity travels to schools across the UK, offering services such as one-to-one mentoring, roadshows, a Summer programme, and more. In addition to the services they offer, they also provide a 10-step guide on starting a conversation to discuss the issue, so you can get involved, too.

Knife Angel Sculpture

The Knife Angel is a statue sculpted from over 100,000 knives that were seized by police. It represents the dangers and consequences of knife crime.

Over the years, the Knife Angel has travelled to various cities across the UK, campaigning to bring about social change wherever it goes. It aims to provide education and awareness to tackle the surrounding issues of knife crime in communities.

Currently, the Knife Angel has plans to travel to Sunderland, Southend-on-Sea, Luton, Haverhill and Perth & Kinross. These areas fill the remainder of the year, but their planned schedule for 2025 and the first quarter of 2026 has also been released.

What Are The Police Doing To Stop Knife Crime In The UK?

There are multiple things the police can do in order to prevent and reduce the threat of knife crime, such as:

Stop And Search With Reasonable Grounds

Stop and search with reasonable grounds is the most commonly performed search carried out by police. Police officers will perform this type of search if they have reasonable suspicion that you might be carrying:

• Illegal drugs
• A weapon
• Stolen property
• Something which could be used to commit a crime

Section 60 Stop And Search

In Section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, there is a clause that specifies police officers do not need reasonable suspicion to perform the search.

This authority can only be given by senior officers, though, and will only be done in instances where a serious threat of violence is occurring in the area. It may also be done if an incident has happened nearby and they are trying to search for suspects or weapons.

Serious Violence Reduction Orders

In 2020, the Serious Violence Reduction Orders were introduced. They applied mainly to repeat offenders for violent crimes, that are given non-custodial sentences.

This order allows police to stop and search anyone who falls under the order, to ensure that they aren’t carrying any weapons.

If they are caught with a weapon for a second time whilst under the order, the offender can expect to receive a custodial sentence. This is a result of the ‘two strikes’ legislation brought in by the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015.

So, Knife Crime In The UK

While this vein of crime is a persistent issue in the UK, there are multiple organisations and forces that are attempting to combat the increase. Everyone has the ability to address the issue, as a community especially. Helping each other to stay safe, as well as having more initiatives provided, can begin to decrease knife crime rates UK.

If you would like to learn more about what you can do to stay safe against crime, why not head to our news page? There, you can find articles like Knife Crime Is Rapidly Increasing; 4 Tips On How To Stay Safe In 2024 and What Are The Different Types Of Crime?

Alternatively, if you’d like to keep up with the latest security tips and tricks, you can take a look at our Region Security Guarding YouTube channel.

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