Knife crime: Insights, challenges and a call to action

In England, there are ongoing concerns regarding the extent of knife crime and the involvement of young males, with a fatal stabbing reported by the media nearly every week. Existing interventions have been criticised for their limited efficacy and lack of specialism and a 'one-size-fits-all' approach.

Our research suggests that more tailored and targeted interventions may be more effective (Browne et al., 2022). Therefore, understanding why young people commit knife crime and their specific risk factors is essential.

Knife Crime is defined in British law as a crime involving a knife or sharp object, such as carrying a weapon with intent to harm or using it to threaten or hurt others. In 2018, knife crime reached a nine-year high with over 4,500 recorded offences committed by individuals under 18 years old.

Although this increase can be partially explained by better police practice at recording such crimes, self-report data has highlighted that a large proportion of knife carrying goes undetected and thus may be more common than is reflected in official statistics.

In the UK, knife-related crimes have gained significant attention as data indicated that the rise in youth involvement in such incidents did not align with an overall increase in youth offending, meaning that knife offending was disproportionately increasing in comparison to other youth violence (see HM government, 2018; McVie, 2010).

Goals to reduce knife crime have continued to be a focus for the police and the government. In 2021, the Home Office allocated over £130 million to address knife and violent crime. This funding supported various policing strategies including increased patrols, weapons sweeps, and stop and search as well as early intervention programs.

These programs aimed to engage young people at critical moments, such as when they enter police custody or accident and emergency services, to steer them from future violence. The projects supplement existing police action as well as intervention programmes delivered by the Youth Justice Service following conviction (Phillips et al., 2022).

However, despite the significant time, manpower, and financial resources invested in combating knife-related offences, the data does not indicate any consistent decrease in this type of crime (Gouga, 2021). Researchers have highlighted that there is a widespread lack of robust evaluations for knife crime interventions and programmes which makes it difficult to draw conclusions about what works to reduce knife crime.

It is possible that the slow progression in reducing knife crime may have been impacted by the limited use of evidence-based approaches in the assessments and interventions used with knife offenders, which points to a more public health approach and the community interventions pioneered by John Carnochan and Karyn McCluskey at the Scottish police violence reduction unit in Glasgow (World Health Organisation, 2010). Karyn McCluskey, a forensic psychologist, is now chief executive of Community Justice Scotland.

Recently, we conducted a systematic review of existing research on knife crime and its prevention (Browne et al., 2022). The aim was to gather evidence on knife offender characteristics and effective interventions. After screening 1352 titles and abstracts, only 21 papers were identified that met the inclusion criteria.

These consisted of 15 studies on offender characteristics and 6 studies on intervention strategies. Findings suggested that knife crime is associated with mental health problems, illicit drug use, and exposure to violence as a perpetrator, victim, or witness in the past. Studies on primary prevention strategies, such as stop and search, knife amnesties, media campaigns and curfews did not show a significant impact in reducing knife crime.

By contrast, increasing offenders' access to tailored support regarding housing, education, and employment showed an impact in reducing weapon carrying.

Our research shows that knife offenders exhibit a considerable degree of diversity, indicating that there may be subtypes within this population. For instance, female perpetrators tend to commit offences in domestic settings, whereas males are more likely to do so in community settings (Gerrard et al., 2017).

Furthermore, knife offenders who are affiliated with gangs differ from those who are not. Gang-related knife crime involves 'instrumental aggression' as a means to an end to protect 'territory' for illegal drug sales. By contrast, non-gang-related knife crime involves young people with previous adverse experiences (ACEs) acting alone and showing 'hostile/expressive aggression.' (Jareno-Ripoll et al., 2024).

Last November, we were involved in a 'Parliamentary Briefing' at Westminster's House of Commons to discuss the prevention of Knife Crime and Youth Violence, and to create a call to action for the government to prioritise effective strategies for prevention. We presented the recommendations of an International Think Tank webinar held two years ago (Browne et al., 2021).

This brought together the collective experience of professionals and young people from diverse backgrounds, such as UNICEF, charities and NGOs, UK Government ministers, police, health and social service representatives, academics, and individuals with lived experience of knife crime.

The recommendations arising were:

• Recognise the need for male role models where there is an absence of a positive father figure.
• Emphasise the value of good parenting (both mothers and fathers) and support the important role of raising children.
• Mentoring schemes and Youth Clubs need to be underpinned by long-term funding and jointly planned and overseen by local community groups.
• Increase involvement of individuals with 'lived experience' and relevant ethnic backgrounds in developing social policies and community strategies for prevention.
• Raise awareness and educate parents about the influence of the internet and the risks posed by violent media and violent social networks.
• Change the focus of interventions away from crime-related education and deterrence, to provide young people at risk with practical support related to housing, employment, education, mental health, conflict resolution and social skills with adults, peers, and their families.
• Local authorities need to take responsibility for every young person not in school, as they are at most risk. These include those with fixed-term or permanent exclusions, those not excluded but asked not to attend and those home-schooled.
• Increase the availability and funding of alternatives to custody and secure accommodation, such as specialist foster care families, Intensive Supervision and Support (ISS) orders and including Multi-systemic Therapy, so the whole family can be engaged and supported.

These recommendations were summarised into five action points, and circulated to Police and Crime Commissioners. The intention is to incorporate these points into the manifestos for the upcoming elections.

• Provide access to tailored support regarding housing, education, training, and employment to young people in inner-city deprived communities (as research has shown this results in a 50 per cent reduction in young people carrying knives).
• Support young people's need for a sense of belonging with secure emotional attachments in a family environment.
• Long-term funding for Youth Clubs and Youth Interventions – including mentoring.
• Identify and work with those missing and/or excluded from education.
• Address the availability of 'hunting knives' and the impact of violent media entertainment and violent social media and recognise their contribution to young people engaging in anti-social and violent behaviour.

The absence of a clear evidence-based framework for policy and practice is evident and urgently required to inform 'what works' for tackling knife crime in our communities. Our research points to targeted interventions. For gang members, it is important to tackle social issues, the lack of positive role models, youth clubs and vocational training.

For non-gang members, it is essential to target trauma-focused therapy and mental health interventions. Indeed, two-thirds of knife crime offenders have mental health issues. Therefore, more investment in adolescent mental health services is essential.

Kevin Browne, Sandra Jareno-Ripoll and Elizabeth Paddock 
Centre for Forensic and Family Psychology, University of Nottingham Medical School, UK

References

Browne, K.D., Green, K., Jareno-Ripoll, S. & Paddock, L. (2022). Knife crime offender characteristics and interventions. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 67,
Browne, K.D., Paddock, E., Ripoll, S.J., Smith, P. & Ireson, C. (2021). Youth violence and knife crime: Developing evidence based policy and practice. Report on the Youth Violence and Knife Crime International Think Tank Webinar 29th June 2021. Westminster: Lords and Commons Family and Child Protection Group (LCFCPG), August 2021. 
Gerard, F.J., Browne, K.D. & Whitfield, K.C. (2017). Gender Comparison of Young People Charged with Murder in England and Wales. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology 61 (4): 413-429.
Gouga, G. (2021). Gen Z is not alone: Generation of knife crime and the covid-19 epidemic crisis. Journal of Sociology and Social Work, 9(2), 13-19. http://dx.doi.org/10.15640/jssw.v9n2a2
HM Government (2021) A total of £130.5 million to tackle serious violence, murder and knife crime. London: Home Office.
HM Government. (2018). Serious violence strategy. London: Home office
Jareno-Ripoll, S., Browne, K.D. & Canter, D. (2024). Identifying subtypes within young males who have been convicted of knife offences: A facet approach. Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling. (In Submission).
McVie, S. (2010). Gang membership and knife carrying: Findings from the Edinburgh study of youth transitions and crime. Edinburgh: Scottish Government Social Research.
Phillips, Whitfield, Hamilton, de Hoog and Coleman (2022). Promising approaches to knife crime: an exploratory study. London: HM Inspectorate of Probation.  
World Health Organisation (2010). European report on preventing violence and knife crime among young people. Copenhagen: WHO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia.