UK crime facts- Knife crime

When we first added this Web page to our site in 2006, the intention was to present the "Facts" about the apparently growing problem of knife crime in the UK, without sensationalising the issues as is often the case with news reportage.
Over the last two years, we have spoken with many dedicated and wonderful people and voluntary groups, working hard within their local communities to tackle the problem. Such efforts have often been undertaken without official funding or much in the way of practical support from the government, but hopefully when the governments Violent Crime Action Plan is published, things will change.

How is 2008 shaping up for knife crime?

- well the first fatal stabbing in 2008 occurred just hours into the new year! ..with at least three more fatal stabbings in the UK being reported in the first week.

In 2007, there were 27 teenagers stabbed to death in London alone

...in the first 10 weeks of 2008 there have been 9 fatal stabbings in London...


The many recent high profile fatal stabbings that have dominated the media, have raised public awareness of the UK' s growing knife culture
Most people seem to agree with the government, police and other law enforcement agencies, that it's time to act to stamp out the growing menace of knife crime.

Which is why initiatives such as "Operation Blunt" (Metropolitan Police) and "Operation Shield" (British Transport Police) are generally welcomed


some knives collected during an amnesty!
Is knife crime in the UK on the increase? - a brief update

Since this page was originally produced in June 06, it seems that hardly a week has gone by without at least one high profile stabbing being reported in the press or on the national news.

In producing the original page, our intention was simply to draw attention to the apparently growing issue of knife crime, although, to be honest, we have been somewhat astounded by the number of visitors that the web page has attracted, and the positive feedback received.

Newsflash 28th October 2007 - Channel 5 news;

Figures obtained under the freedom of information act show that there is a knife crime committed in the UK every 24 minutes!

- in fact the figures show that there have been 5,500 serious knife crimes in the UK in just 3 months.

So, some 12 months or so on from the original posting on this site, how do things look now?

Frankly, just as confused ...in March 2007 following the fatal stabbing of Adam Regis (and 4 other fatal stabbings within the previous week), the then Home Secretary Mr John Reid finally admitted that we don't know enough about knife crime, and ordered police forces to start collecting statistics on the use of knives in crime, as the Government does not know enough about the scale of knife violence! This must be viewed as a positive step (if somewhat late in the day), as current statistics are simply unreliable.

As an example, based on one survey, a worst case projection indicates that 60,000 young people (predominantly male) may be stabbed and injured in the UK each year, whilst a rather more conservative estimate could be 22,000. The discrepancy in the two figures should not really be surprising as the figures were derived from the questioning of around 600 under 25 year olds, who were asked whether they had been knifed or stabbed, and then extrapolated to provide a "National Statistic" (Governments Offending, Crime and Justice Survey - OCJS).

Whatever the actual numbers, it is clear that the persons most likely to be at risk from knife violence are; young, black or Asian males, living in high crime inner city areas, ...but as is all too evident from the events of the last year, young or old, ordinary citizens, solicitors, police officers, etc., no one is exempt!

Hard facts - The murder of 14 year old Paul Erhahon on 6th April 2007 was reported as the 7th under 16 year old to be murdered in London in 2 months (and that's just London). During March, 30 year old Kevin Platt and at least two other youths were fatally stabbed in separate incidents in Manchester, whilst the string of reported deaths and stabbings have continued throughout April and into May. The most recently reported deaths (as @ 20th May 07), being the fatal stabbing in Sunderland of 22 year old Kevin Johnson and in a separate incident in Sunderland on the same night, the non fatal stabbing in the chest of another male.



The Issues, Statistics and General Information relating to Knife Crime

Few would argue that anyone has a need to carry on the streets of Britain, the sort of lethal weapons pictured above, and it's illegal to do so (generally speaking, the carrying of any knife other than a folding pocket knife with a blade length of less than 3" is illegal in the UK).

Below we have attempted to provide an overview of the current state of affairs regarding knife culture in Britain, related crime statistics and the practical measures which are being taken to improve the situation and make our streets safer. The information is presented in good faith and believed to be accurate. As explained below however (see information sources), the often conflicting nature of official statistics, etc. means that some interpretation and filtering of published information has been necessary.