knife crime research - biblography

SCOTLAND...Listen to John Muir, whose son Damian was stabbed to death in Greenock in 2007, speak about 'Knife Crime' and what it cost his family:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/7605143.stm

OPINION POLE -http://news.bbc.co.uk/panorama/hi/front_page/newsid_7818000/7818856.stm

JAILED FOR A KNIFE -http://news.bbc.co.uk/panorama/hi/front_page/newsid_7819000/7819973.stm  

PANORAMA...JOINT ENTERPRISE -www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00p31vd/Panaorama_Lethal_Enterprise/

BBC NEWS BLOG...MARK EASTON:

www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/markeaston/2010/01/conservative_estimates_on_viol.html  

www.crimestopper-uk.org

www.knifecrimes.org


www.direct.gov.uk/.

www.homeoffice.gov.uk

knife crime research - Tackling the problem - current initiatives

Current initiatives include:

Legislation - a government bill currently in the House of Lords features legislation to prohibit the sale of knives to anyone under the age of 18

Knife amnesty - these are designed to take knives off the street - although in reality, it is the law abiding citizens rather than the target groups which are more likely to surrender weapons.

Police Operations - such as operations Blunt and Shield involve the rapid and random deployment of metal detectors in public places such as stations, schools, etc. with strong police backup. The purpose being to identify and arrest anyone carrying illegal weapons. 

Many schools are already using or considering the use of metal detectors to detect pupils carrying knives to school, or to deter them from doing so.

Whilst the above activities are moves in the right direction, much more needs to be done;

- At present whilst the law  provides for the imprisonment for up to 2 years for anyone illegally carrying a knife (up to 4 years if it's considered an offensive weapon), yet the implementation of any prison sentence at all appears almost non existent.  

Many people support the action group run by the parents of Luke Walmsley (the schoolboy who was stabbed to death in 2003), in calling for a mandatory minimum sentence of 5 years for carrying a knife. This would put it on a par with the penalty for carrying a gun, and could therefore be an effective deterrent. There are however there are obvious practical implications for the implementation of such measures, not least of which is that our prisons are already at bursting point, - with judges calling for fewer people to be imprisoned rather than more!

knife crime - public perception

Recent high profile media coverage of such events has certainly raised public consciousness regarding knife crime / culture in Britain. Whatever the published statistics show, most people now appear to feel (with some justification), that knife crime is rapidly getting out of control, and that urgent tough action is required to curb it before it gets totally out of hand.

Police initiatives such as "Operation Blunt" or "Operation Shield" seem to be genuinely welcomed by the public, whilst initiatives such as knife amnesty's are viewed with more than a little cynicism, and at best viewed as a means of publicising the dangers of knife carrying.

On the positive side, knife amnesty's have at least contributed to taking thousands of weapons out of circulation. It is however, obviously unrealistic to expect to withdraw all knives from circulation, especially when kitchen knives, gardening knives, etc, all feature in violent attacks, and those surrendering knives, are of course likely to be from the more law abiding element of the community.

knife crime research - statistics

Statistics - some specifics / the numbers (based on the latest annual statistics for crime in England & Wales)	back to top of page
note: where BCS & RCS figures vary we have tried to show comparison	source of information;

	Incidents of Violent Crime	2,715,000	British Crime Survey  (RCS figures 1,000,000+)
	- Violent Crime - involving use of weapons	almost 75%	Recorded Crime Statistics
	- Violent Crime - Wounding	38%	Recorded Crime Statistics    (BCS indicate 25%)
	- Violent Crime - Serious Wounding	2%	Recorded Crime Statistics    (BCS - no info)
	- Violent Crime - fatalities	0.1%	Recorded Crime Statistics    (BCS - no info)
	Homicides (incl. murder / manslaughter / infanticides)	1,045	Recorded Crime Statistics
	- Homicides with sharp implement	27%	Recorded Crime Statistics
	- Homicides with guns	8%	Recorded Crime Statistics
	- Homicides increase since 1965	more than tripled	Recorded Crime Statistics
	Incidents involving edged weapon attacks (London Only)	54,000+	British National Martial Arts Association
	Firearm incidents involving violence	7,133	Recorded Crime Statistics
	Statistics re. Youths Carrying Knives:- (note: the figures below do not necessarily reflect youths carrying knives every day)	.
	- 11-12 year olds carrying knives last year	10%	Youth at risk?
	- 15-17 year olds admitting to carrying knives for self defence	46%	Ian Johnston - Chief Constable British Transport Police
	- Pupils in London Schools carrying knives (in many surveys, around 30-35% of pupils admit to carrying a knife - but it should be stressed, that does not mean every day! However misguidedly, many pupils only carry a knife when they feel they may be particularly at risk)	29%	Youth Justice Board / Mori 2003
	- Excluded Pupils carrying knives	62%	Youth Justice Board / Mori 2003
	- 16 year old boys admitting attacking someone with a knife  - intent on causing serious injury	1 in 5	Youth Justice Board / Mori 2003
	-  teenage deaths from knife attack (2004)	more than 20	Be Safe Project   www.besafeproject.org.uk
	++++ Newsflash ++++ In London alone - over the May Bank Holiday weekend (27-29th May 06) - Police recorded over 50 knife attacks	more than 50 knife attacks in London during the weekend	BBC National News
	Many criminologists now believe that people carrying a knife is a bigger threat than people carrying guns - this is based on a 60% increase in recorded incidents of knife carrying during the 6 years between 1999 - 2004	60% increase in recorded knife carrying incidents in  just 6 years

knife crime research - press conference with Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson: Met records big increase in young people injured by knives on his watch

The numbers of crimes recorded by the Metropolitan Police where the victims were teenagers or young adults and injured by a knife rose by just over 30 percent in the second and third years of Boris Johnson's mayoralty compared with his first. The figures, which the Met has provided me with, show that "notifiable" offences of that type where the victim was aged between 13 and 24 totalled 1,594 in the financial year 2008/09, which coincided almost exactly with Boris's first year in power, then jumped to 2,076 in 2009/10 and remained at (precisely) that number in 2010/11. The majority of victims in all three years were teenagers, accounting for between 55 and 60 percent of each of the annual totals.

The Met's statistics for 13-24 year old victims of all types of knife crime during the three years in question, which include those where no injury was caused, also show an increase since the end of 2008/09. This category documents offences where the perpetrator was seen by the victim to have a knife or where possession of a knife was intimated. There were 5,923 such offences recorded by the Met against 13-24 year-olds in 2008/09, 6,460 in 2009/10 and 7,231 in 2010/11 – an increase of over 20 per cent. In each of the three years over 60 percent of these victims have been teenagers.

The same period has seen a small overall increase in all forms of "serious violence" offence against 13-24 year-olds. The number reported rose from 10,655 in 2008/09 to 11,020 in 2009/10 before falling to 10,749 in 2010/11. Within that category, the number of teenage victims rose consecutively year-by-year: from 6,142 in 2008/09 to 6,247 in 2009/10 and to 6,356 in 2010/11, while the trend for 20-24 year-olds initially went up from 4,513 to 4,773 before falling back to 4,393.

There is more encouraging news in the "most serious violence" category for the age group, which the Metropolitan Police Authority website says includes homicide and "child destruction", attempted murder, wounding,GBH and causing death by dangerous driving. This has shown consecutive annual falls from 5,197 in 2008/09 to 5,115 in 2009/10 and to 4,145 in 2010/11. There were slightly larger numbers of victims in their teenage years than aged 20-24 in all three years. The overall drop since 2008/09 has been fractionally more than 20 per cent. There has also been a small drop - from 30,972 to 29,626 - in the figure for all types of violent offences against 13-24 year-olds.

The increases in knife crime victims, injured and otherwise, have come against the backdrop of intensified efforts by the Met to combat serious violence by and against young people in the capital following Boris's election in May 2008. Operation Blunt 2 was launched straight after Boris's victory, with the Met introducing the use of metal-detecting arches at transport hubs and greatly increasing its stop-and-search activities.

A fortnight after becoming Mayor Boris visited a Blunt 2 operation in Elephant and Castle saying, "Everybody is shocked by the level of violence we are seeing, particularly towards young people in London and we must work as hard as we can together to reverse this dreadful trend."

Not all offences are reported to the police because some victims do not wish to inform the authorities or feel unable to do so. For example youths are often reluctant to report violence-related injuries due to fear of reprisal, because they wish to deal with the problem personally, because they have behaved criminally themselves, or because they lack confidence in the police. In addition, it is recognised that the level of under-reporting of crime may well be higher amongst ethnic minorities. Consequently, the actual extent of youth violence in London cannot be accurately established.

The figures also provide context for claims made recently by Boris about youth violence on his watch. In the section on young Londoners in hisannual report published in May he listed as highlights  that "youth violence fell by more than six per cent in 2010/11," and that "Over 11,000 knives have been taken off London's streets since 2008," but no mention was made anywhere in the report of any knife crime trend. It's important to note here that occasions when knives have been found as a result of a police search are not included in the Met statistics discussed above. Further down, the annual report acknowledges that "levels of the most serious youth crimes remain a real, and all too often tragic, concern."

Something else to bear in mind is that any rise in crime levels recorded by the police can to some degree reflect a greater willingness on the part of victims to report offences. On the other hand, it seems probable that not every violent offence against a young person comes to the attention of the police at all. Boris's own policy document on young people, published in November 2008, puts this very well (page 59):

It can, though, be safely inferred from the above that there is more rather than less violent crime committed against teenagers and young adults in London than the Met's figures are able to show. The precise significance of those figures is something readers might have views on.

knife crime research - Hamid Ismailov's blog

With the riots dying out on the streets of England the public debate on their background and causes, is getting increasingly more vocal.

All kind of questions are being asked and many points of view are being shared.

One side maintains that it's pure criminality.

Another argues that there are deep and uncovered social causes behind it.

The third side discusses social deprivation, pauperisation of the part of population because of the spending cuts.

The fourth speaks about mob culture, broken families, consumerism and a false sense of entitlement and so on.

Whichever side of the argument you take - the sheer scale and the character of the riots aggravated by lootings, rampage and arson can't take away the seriousness of what had happened over the last week.

By coincidence, during all of those days, I was re-reading and reviewing classic Russian and English literature.

So what I would like to discuss here is the mindset of those, who overstepped the boundaries of normality. Could the likes of Dostoevsky and Dickens help us to better understand it?

Who are these people?

The finger of blame is pointing mainly at the street gangs.

For quite a while these gangs of 'yobsters' have been marking and controlling their post code 'ends' and if you are a stranger on their territory, you could end up being beaten up, mugged or stabbed.

Any teenager in London is aware and lives with this reality.

We adults, maybe not knowingly, but regularly hear about it in the event of 'knife crimes' taking place, when absolutely ordinary boys and girls are stabbed without any obvious reasons.

So, as the authorities indicate, these gangs were the main actors and beneficiaries of the rampage.

But it becomes apparent that among the looters there were also wider representatives of youth and society as a whole.

Two 17-year-old girls drinking stolen rosé wine were interviewed by BBC

"Everyone was just on a riot, going mad, chucking things, chucking bottles - it was good, though."

Her friend added: "Breaking into shops - it was madness, it was good fun." One of the girls continued: "It's the government's fault. I don't know. Conservatives, whoever it is. It's the rich people who've got businesses and that's why all this happened."

Pictures released by police and seen on TV screens show kids as young as 10-12 years old, unmasked girls casually walking, young men and women carrying out boxes with plasma screens, all sorts of gadgets and bags full of clothing.

In short - lots of 'opportunists'.

Messages whizzing around on the social networks in teenage groups indicated that it's simply opportunism, and 'because everyone's doing it, it's safe to do it without any fear of repercussions'.

So for many youngsters outside the gangs, it was just a free for all mob mentality that pulled them in. "That's what's it all about - showing the police that we could do whatever we want; show the rich people that we could do whatever we want" - as the above mentioned girl said

knife crime research - television: crimewatch

How parents can help combat knife crime

Tackling knife crime

On Crimewatch Roadshow, we’ve seen how South Wales Police are using a cartoon character called Robby Bluetooth to inform youngsters of the dangers associated with knife crime.

But how close to home does it truly hit? And what role can parents play in helping to combat it?

First of all, it’s important to pick up on just why some young people now feel that it’s necessary to carry a knife and to be aware of the legalities involved.

For instance, it's generally an offence to carry a knife in public without good reason or lawful authority (for example, a good reason is a chef on the way to work carrying their own knives). And the outcome for carrying one? A maximum of four years in jail and a fine of £5,000. But why take the risk of getting yourself into trouble in the first place?

Youngsters today face all kinds of pressures and problems and while your child might not actually be carrying a knife, they may have talked about it or know someone who has.

If you’re a parent who is worried about knife crime and how it might affect your children, the DirectGov website has some helpful and practical advice.

More information

• • Directgov: Talk about knives –http://talkaboutknives.direct.gov.uk/index.html
• • BBC News: Bluetooth rap tackles knife crime –http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7935361.stm

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites

knife crime research - crimestoppers

Knife crime

What is Crimestoppers doing about knife crime?

Here are just a few initiatives that Crimestoppers is running to combat knife crime in the UK.

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Crimestoppers Radio Ad 
A series of anti-knife crime radio commercials were aired on Choice FM. We hope the adverts will encourage London teenagers to text about anyone they know who is carrying a knife in school.

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Know someone with a knife? Text Crimestoppers 
Originally piloted in 10 areas across England and Wales, Crimstoppers' knife crime texting service is now available nationwide. You can text Crimestoppers anonymously on 88551 if you know someone who carries a knife. Texts pass through a special server to maintain your anonymity - Crimestoppers cannot trace your phone number or any details about you. More about our texting service

Texts should include four pieces of information about those carrying knives:

1. Name and/or nickname
2. school
3. year
4. postcode/area.

Important! The text number is only for information about knives.

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Fearless fights knife crime
Youth workers from Fearless, our brand for 11 to 16-year-olds, hold workshops in schools and youth clubs on crime. These sessions cover a variety of crimes, including knife crime. We also produce free Fearless knife crime posters, which you can order from theFearless.org website.

There is also a section on the Fearless.org website dedicated to knife and gun crime. It contains non-judgemental advice for young people about the effects of knife crime and the punishments for being caught carrying a knife. Visit the Fearless pages on knife crime

If you know someone who carries a knife, call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or use our anonymous online form.

Please become a member of Crimestoppers' pages on Facebook and Twitter to help spread our message!

knife crime research - local newspaper 'the portsmouth news'

Portsmouth night spots targeted in knife crime blitz

Police are to seal off Gunwharf Quays with a 'ring of steel' in a huge crackdown on drugs and knife crime.

The operation at the Portsmouth nightspot is the most high-profile part of a huge blitz in the run-up to Christmas.

Portable 'knife-arch' metal detectors, sniffer dogs and drug swabs will be used in 10 locations across Portsmouth including Gunwharf, Guildhall Walk and Southsea in December.

The Gunwharf operation is the biggest, and will see 12 police officers and eight special constables creating the ring of steel around Gunwharf Quays.

No-one will be able to enter or leave the venue without going through a checkpoint for knives and weapons and a sniffer dog during the evening.

Police won't say when they will be carrying out the operations, but they will be held after shopping hours.

They say there is no problem with knife crime in the area, but they want residents and Christmas revellers to feel safe and secure.

Inspector Louise Tester, who leads Portsmouth's violent crime reduction and licensing teams, said: 'Gunwharf is one of the safest places in Portsmouth to go out in. We want to maintain that.

'Nobody will be able to get into or leave the area without passing a police checkpoint for drugs and weapons. For the majority of members of the public who are law-abiding it will not be a problem.

'If the knife arch bleeps we will have grounds to search the person to ensure they are not carrying any weapons. If a drugs dog sits down in front of someone it means either that person has got drugs on them or has been in contact with drugs, which would necessitate a search as well.'

The city-wide operations are supplemented by 6,000 from the government's Tackling Knives Action Programme.

Inspector Tester added: 'There are a lot more people out enjoying themselves over the Christmas period. We want to ensure they enjoy themselves safely.'

Peter Emery, Gunwharf Quays director, said: 'This is not a reaction to a problem, it's more about public reassurance and sending a signal to the public that we are working closely with the police.

Portsmouth to get cash to tackle knife crime

Portsmouth is getting a share of £5m to help tackle knife crime and youth violence.

The Home Office announced the Tackling Knives and Serious Youth Violence Action Programme will be extended for one more year.

The third phase of the programme will operate in 52 areas, including Portsmouth, and will support tough enforcement and education.

So far work has included an increase in stops and searches including extra mobile knife scanners, nights of intensive enforcement and prevention action, education sessions for more than 200,000 young people to make them aware of the dangers of knives and a public information campaign.

Both police forces and community organisations will get a share of the cash to continue similar schemes.

Sarah McCarthy-Fry, Labour MP for Portsmouth North, said: 'I am proud of Labour's record of dealing with crime and anti-social behaviour. Today's announcement is further evidence of Labour's determination to use every tool available to cut crime and make communities across Portsmouth safer still.'