Knife crime and safeguarding

On the 12th March 2019, Ofsted released its report from a research project into knife crime in education.  Based on work done in 29 schools, colleges and pupil referral units in London, the research looked at 3 broad questions:

• What were the education provisions doing to safeguard children and learners from knife crime whilst in school?
• How were the establishments providing learners with the knowledge and skills to stay safe in the wider community?
• How are exclusions being used when children bring knives into school?

As Amanda Spielman commented, this report is timely, with knife crime rarely being out of the news, and charts showing that after several years of falling numbers, incidents of knife crime have been on the rise since 2014.  A Commons Library Briefing (Nov 2018) illustrates how knife crime has changed between 2010/11 and 2017/18.

Over the seven year period the total number of selected offences (i.e. the ones shown above) has increased by 23%, with the largest individual increase being in relation to the number of threats to kill which are made using knives or sharp objects, followed by significant increases in the use of knives in cases of sexual assault and rape.

However, the BBC look in more detail at statistics relating to violent attacks and use of weapons in those attacks across England and Wales.  Using ONS statistics they suggest that rising knife crime needs to be seen in context, with the majority of violent attacks in England and Wales (79%) not involving a weapon of any sort, and knives being used in 6% of such attacks – the report notes the Police data (which includes crimes of harassment and stalking) shows the violence is often alcohol fuelled and involves two people fighting.  This appears to be correlated by Crime Survey of England and Wales data (which includes offences that are not reported to the Police) again putting the latest figure (Mar 2017) as being around 7%.  The same survey reports that overall levels of violence have fallen by about a quarter since 2013 and overall incidents of crime have fallen by almost 40% in the last 10 years.

So, does this mean that the headlines about knife crime are all hyperbole?  The Commons Briefing (Nov 2018) shows that the general rise in knife crime has been disproportionately focussed on certain areas, as shown by the map below.

Is it therefore another example of the influence of media (mainstream and social)?  In June 2018, The Guardian ran an article suggesting that all too often headlines were responsible for driving policy and feeling instead of looking at the true picture, and arguably this remains the case almost a year on.  That is not to dismiss that there is an overall picture of an increasing problem, particularly with young people as we will see below, however we need to ensure that perspective is maintained.