Knife crime and safeguarding

This is part of our safeguarding insights section.  Our aim is to provide you with a broader understanding of a specific topic through a researched and referenced article that contributes towards your professional development and ensures that you can support your staff accordingly.

15 minute read

DSLs and Safeguarding Teams

Introduction

On the 12^th 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.

Young people and knife crime

Of the 21,000 disposals (i.e. anything from a caution to conviction) given for knife crime, 21% were to children and young people aged 10-17.  Figures do not go below 10 as this is the age of criminal responsibility in England and Wales (the equivalent age is 8 in Scotland) – this means that if the child is under 10 they cannot be arrested and charged with a crime.

Of note as well is the rising number of 10 to 19-year olds who are victims of assault with a sharp object. NHS England (Feb 2019) reports that whilst for all ages admissions for injuries cause by assault with a knife or other sharp object has increased by approximately 30% since 2013, the increase for 10-19-year olds for the same period was 55%.  A number of agencies, including North Yorkshire Safeguarding Children Board, suggest that 7 out of 10 young people who attend A&E with a knife injury have been stabbed by their own knife, although it has not been possible to corroborate this statistic.

Research by the Mayor of London Office for Policing and Crime (Dec 2018) provides an indicator for what may be behind the need to carry knives, with a quarter of young people surveyed reporting that they know someone who has carried a knife, or who is in a gang. The same survey notes that certain groups will show greater “vicarious exposure to these issues” (p.17), with children who attend pupil referral units identified as one cohort where exposure to knives is greater, increasing to around 50%.

The Ofsted research report states that school leaders identified three main groupings of children who carry knives (listed in their view from highest risk to lowest risk):

• Children who have been groomed for the purposes of child criminal exploitation
• Children who have witnessed other children carrying knives, have been a victim of knife crime, know someone who has carried a knife for protection or status acquisition linked to the glamorisation on social media
• Children who carry knives as an isolated incident, for example because it was a present from a family member.

(Ofsted, 2019)

Whilst it is important to note the participating schools in this research were self-selecting (it was therefore not a random sample), we would propose that these groupings cover the main reasons why a child would carry a knife.

Vulnerabilities

The statistics therefore suggest that overall knife crime is increasing, but that it is more of an issue for specific cohorts of children and young people who demonstrate specific vulnerabilities.  Ofsted’s research identifies that children who have

experienced poverty, abuse or neglect or are living within troubled families.  They may also experience social exclusion due to factors such as their race or socio-economic background […] those likely to be involved were also more likely to be low attainers academically compared with their peers. (p.5)

However, in a challenge to the ordering of risk presented by Ofsted above, the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies (2018) report that their literature review found a large number of studies that evidenced a correlation between income inequality and violence, with there being a greater correlation with violent offences such as homicide and assault.  The same literature review identified that mental ill health and adverse childhood experiences are linked with aggressive behaviours, whilst specific triggers for knife carrying could be linked to being victims of bullying and the dynamics of victimisation and humiliation – this suggesting that a significant driver for carrying knives is protection and status acquisition.

On the subject of child criminal exploitation, the literature review suggests that county lines and the use of violence as a means of achieving business objectives may be key in the rise of knife related violence in rural areas.  Indeed, the National Crime Agency in 2017 reported that the issues for rural areas appeared to do with the “businesses” running county lines fighting each other, as opposed to county lines operators fighting with local drug dealers.

This challenge is further supported by the London Knife Crime Strategy (2017) which stated that “Recent data suggests that the majority of knife crime is not gang-related. Gangflagged crime accounted for 5% of all knife crime with injury during 2016 - down from almost 9% in the preceding year.”  The strategy does however offer a potential explanation to why gang related activity can be seen to be of higher risk, stating that “gang-related knife crimes are usually of a more violent nature to other knife related offending and that young black and ethnic minority males are disproportionately affected by more serious and violent forms of knife crime, where an injury has resulted from the offence” (p.15).  This therefore suggests there may be a subtle difference between perception and reality.

Addressing vulnerabilities

Regardless of where the perceived vulnerabilities stem from, it is important that as part of our safeguarding duties we are working to address the identified vulnerabilities and empower children and young people to stay safe from knife crime.

For schools this can arguably be seen as yet another area to add to an already overloaded safeguarding agenda.  We have already seen how Amanda Spielman is keen to stop schools being seen as the “panacea for all society’s ills”, however if the underlying issues are potentially linked to poverty, bullying, mental health, emotional harm and child criminal exploitation then there is less of a need to reinvent the wheel, and this can be done regardless of whether the provision is mainstream school, pupil referral unit, or residential children’s home.

The research identified that the level of violence involving knives in schools is relatively low, however the most dangerous time for children is between 4 and 6pm (original research in the British Medical Journal, 2018), therefore when they have left school for the day.  This is further evidence of the importance of contextual safeguarding and looking at the wider picture for children and young people and understanding what their world in general is like.

That is not to say that this is solely an issue for individual organisations to have to address.  The Guardian (Feb 2019) quotes the leader of charity Redthread as warning that victims of serious or fatal knife attacks have usually attended A&E units up to 4-5 times previously with less serious injuries.  The young people referred to here will have potentially been involved with a number of agencies and so there may be patterns that can be identified by multi-agency cooperation and the use of chronologies.

Ofsted recommend that local strategies should involve schools in designing local strategies to address knife crime and serious youth violence.   The argue that whilst there is Department for Education guidance around the powers for schools to search and screen pupils as well confiscating items they may find, there is a lot of variation around implementation.  There is also apparent variation between organisations as to when the police are involved – the Criminal Justice Act 1988 (s.139A) sets out that with the exception of a folding pocketknife which has a blade of 3 inches or less, having any article with a blade or that is sharply pointed in school is an offence.

Schools generally do prohibit the carrying of knives and take a robust approach. This should include close links with the Police, reporting of knives and intelligence about tensions within the school which are likely to lead to knife violence. However, this should run alongside the underlying question of “what is daily life like for this child?”  If we can begin to answer that question, then we will be able to start to understand why they are carrying the knife in the first place – e.g. around self-preservation, vulnerability or intent to harm.  The Ofsted research provides an example of this, suggesting there were examples of teenage girls carrying knives in order to self-harm.  In this case how do you safeguard effectively whilst managing the risk?  Different people will always have differing views on this depending on personal and professional viewpoints, but regardless of how the issue of having a knife is managed there also needs to be consideration of the safeguarding needs of the child.

Exclusion

Of note, the Ofsted research challenges how children can be safeguarded when excluded.  It suggests there is evidence that children are being groomed by adults to get themselves excluded so that there is potentially less involvement from agencies and fewer protective factors. We have already seen how groomers are evolving to avoid a child’s behaviour flagging safeguarding concerns and this is therefore potentially another means to achieve this aim.  As highlighted in the Ofsted report, each school will consider whether exclusion is an appropriate course of action based on the school’s position on incidents involving knives and the circumstances of the individual case.

There is however a need to remember that excluded children (either those experiencing multiple fixed term exclusions or permanent exclusion) are highly vulnerable and the vulnerability increases with the loss of the school support network.  Many local authority threshold tools will identify either multiple fixed term exclusions or a child being permanently excluded as a marker for potential social care involvement on a child in need basis.  Therefore, at the point of exclusion consideration should be given to what is known about the child being excluded and whether a referral to social care is required.  Such consideration should include what is known about the child, their home circumstances and peer networks – for example, are there any of the vulnerabilities present that would increase their risk of exploitation?

The underpinning vulnerabilities and needs of children, whether involved in child criminal exploitation or other forms of knife crime, should form part of your school’s safeguarding strategy. Safeguarding Network can help with our underpinning safeguarding curriculum for staff in-house training. Every month we provide DSLs with bite-size training materials to deliver to staff, increasing awareness, developing skills and providing a framework to respond to the needs of your pupils. Our aim is to ensure staff see things earlier, react effectively and that organisations are skilled at utilising their local networks to get children, young people and their families the support they need to reduce vulnerability to issues such as knife crime, either as a perpetrator or a victim. Contact us to be shown around our materials, or join now for just £99+VAT a term.

Conclusion

It is accepted that after a period of knife crime reducing, it is currently on the rise again.  We do however need to maintain an awareness of the wider picture along with the underlying drivers for the increase to ensure that responses are appropriate.  As always however, in every child that feels the need to carry a knife there are vulnerabilities that need to be identified and addressed to ensure that that child (potentially both a victim and perpetrator) is safeguarded.

Other resources include:

https://noknivesbetterlives.com/ - an initiative supported by the Scottish Government to promote knife crime prevention work.  Resources include toolkits and lesson plans

https://www.knifefree.co.uk/ - a UK Home Office campaign providing real stories and seeking to quash misconceptions about carrying knives

https://benkinsella.org.uk/resources-for-teachers-and-practitioners/ - preplanned KS2, KS3 and KS4 lessons based on video testimony from ex-gang members, victims and offenders.