Why knife crime

Knife crime is a social problem — its causes, not its symptoms, must be treated, and austerity is one of its causes. The UK needs to refill local communities with positive services and activities for young people.

Children are part of the solution to knife crime, not part of the problem. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.

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HD videos Public Relations Office. Research Impact Research spotlights Research news Case studies. Support Support for staff Doctoral College. Enterprise Office About us Contact us. University home News and events Comment and analysis Knife crime: children are not the problem, they are part of the solution. Menu News and events home News Events Comment and analysis. But earlier this week Prime Minister Theresa May said there is "no direct correlation" between falling officer numbers and a rise in violent crime.

Leader of the Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn said that Mrs May "must start listening" to police chiefs over the impact of cutting 21, officers, saying: "You cannot keep people safe on the cheap. Some experts argue that often it is a fear of gangs and crime that leads to young people carrying knives, because they believe it will help to keep them safe. The trouble is that those weapons may then be used, which could make the number of violent incidents go up.

In March , police chief Cressida Dick told the Times newspaper that she believed arguments and peer pressure on social media sites can "rev people up", make people angry and make street violence "more likely".

Others say that young people get involved with gangs and knife crime because they lack opportunities in life. They say there are too few services provided to help and support young people, including education, mental health services and youth centres. They believe that improving these services would help cut the amount of violent crime. Many of these services have been reduced as a result of the government reducing the money available to spend on these services. There are lots of different rules about carrying a knife, but for the most part it is illegal to carry a knife in public without a good reason.

It is also illegal to use any knife in a threatening way. If you are found to be carrying a knife in the UK, there could be serious punishments. One thing that you might have heard being talked about in relation to knife crime is something called 'stop-and-search'. As the name might suggest, stop-and-search is a police practice in which a police officer can stop a person briefly to check that they are not carrying any weapons or illegal items - for example, a knife.

There are certain things that police are and aren't allowed to do during stop-and-search, and certain things they have to do for example, show their credentials and tell the person what they suspect them of carrying. Over the last few years, the use of stop-and-search by police officers has declined.

The boss of Thames Valley Police, Chief Constable Francis Habgood, has said that the use of stop-and-search in his police force had "considerably" dropped in the last few years, but that he thought it should be used more to deal with the issue of knife crime and young people carrying blades. Home secretary Sajid Javid told the annual Police Superintendents' Conference in September: "If stop-and-search means that lives can be saved from the communities most affected, then of course it's a very good thing.

But some people have been critical of stop-and-search as they say that ethnic minorities, especially young black men, are unfairly targeted. Following the most recent attacks, Home Secretary Sajid Javid has called for knife crime to be treated "like a disease". He has met with police bosses to look at ways to deal with the spread of violence. The available figures suggest that when they happen recorded knife crimes are becoming more severe, though that may partly be the product of improved recording practices again.

In , there were almost 21, offences dealt with in the criminal justice system for possessing a knife or sharp instrument. The average sentence length for these offences is 7. Information provided by the charity Full Fact. Give information anonymously by phone on or online. Join our fight against crime by making us a donation today, and see how the money you give can help shape your community for the better.

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