The report featured three reporters from around the country in Glasgow, Bolton and Bristol. Taking the last first, the reporter said that yes, knife crime continued strongly in urban Bristol, but it has actually dropped across the Clifton suspension bridge in the rural areas and in the South West (only 12 youngsters taken to hospital with knife wounds there in the last year)
The reporter from Bolton, Manchester said, basically, that gun crime was more of a problem than knife crime there. There are some isolated high incidence areas in Moss side or in the city centre of Manchester.
The reporter from Scotland said that hospital admissions suggest that the number of knife assaults has gone down by third in recent years, but that stabbing remains by far the most common method of killing. The Scottish parliament is considering a mandatory jail sentence for carrying a knife.
Mark Easton, home affairs editor, summed up by saying that the number of deaths caused by stabbing has remained relatively static at around 300-350 per year which means about one case per day. Tragic and awful, but those are the figures and have been for some time. So, we've heard reports that there have been five killings by stabbing over the weekend, but that doesn't necessarily indicate an epidemic or a unusual increase across the country, but that there is a very specific problem in some localised areas. The age of the victims is going down and there are some obvious "hot spots" such as in London.
Slightly digressing for a moment, but nevertheless adding some general perspective, Mark Easton writes about the subject of youth on his blog:
Reading the great British press, one might be forgiven for thinking that all our teenagers are binge-drinking, drug-addled, knife-wielding thugs ready to leap out and stab a granny for a fiver.There is a real problem with knife-crime in some parts of the UK, let's not pretend otherwise. And there are many other problems concerning young people in this country.But I thought it might be timely to remind ourselves that youth doesn't necessarily mean yob.
He then goes on to list ten reasons to be optimistic about the "yoof", concluding:
This list doesn't mean teenagers are all little angels. They aren't and they never have been. But it would be a shame to demonise a social group that is actually happier, achieving at a higher level, with better health and more opportunity for travel, sport and cultural activities than any previous generation in our history.
Going back to the specific issue of knife crime, The Mail on Sunday yesterday quoted some scary figures. But when you look at their table (below - click to enlarge) it shows half of the reported police areas going up (in terms of knife crime incidents) and half the areas going down.
I notice that one of the areas that has gone down (albeit very slightly) is Nottinghamshire, where they are conducting what is described as:
...the first early intervention measures designed to build the social and emotional development of not only babies, toddlers and primary school children but also to help young mothers and to ensure that children grow up to take full advantage of the educational opportunities available to them, rather than becoming a burden on society and alienated and prone to disruptive behaviour, educational underachievement and in many cases criminality.
Ah. Excellent. At last a sign of some intelligent action in this area.
Chris Summers has an excellent analysis of knife crime on BBC Online. His report includes, again, some very welcome intelligence on the subject from Richard Garside, the director of the Centre of Crime and Justice Studies at Kings College London, who said:
If you look at the figures for the last 10 years the number of knife victims has remained relatively stable - although there have been spikes - at 200 to 220 a year. But there is some evidence the demographic has changed. The average age of homicide victims overall has been going down, with younger and younger victims. Those living in poorer parts of town are inevitably most at risk. For many years the murder capital for knife crime has been Glasgow, but now we are seeing it as a major problem in Manchester and London and other cities.
(In passing I note that the report quoted one Scottish police officer as saying: "If you think you've got it bad down in London, you should take a look at Glasgow." )
That comment from Mr Garside chimes in with a report on the underlying causes of knife crime issued by the Centre for Crime and Justice studies at King's College, London last December. The report can be read in full here. The college's press release summarised it thus:
A coherent evidence based strategy that recognises the deeper structural causes of inequality, poverty and social disaffection is needed to address knife related offending according to a report published today by the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies at King's College, London.
The report argues that enforcement and punitive action to tackle knife carrying and knife use, such as harsher sentences, fail to take account of the fact that it is `merely one expression of interpersonal violence'. Success in tackling knife crime will only come with success in dealing with the underlying causes of violence, fear and insecurity.
The comprehensive review of evidence and policy states that:
-Knife carrying, especially amongst young men, is not unusual but there is insufficient evidence on the extent, nature, motivation, frequency and possible growth of knife carrying. Without further research, designing and implementing programmes to reduce the incidence of knife carrying will be difficult.
-According to official statistics the number of violent crimes involving knives in England and Wales has remained stable in recent years and it is impossible to establish either an upward or down ward trend in the number of actual incidents. Within particular offence categories there is no substantial evidence of a significant change in the proportions of knife use.
-Sharp instruments, which includes knives, are the most common weapon in a homicide. But as a proportion of all homicides the use of sharp instruments has fallen over the past decade, accounting for less than thirty per cent of homicides in 2005/2006 compared to nearly forty percent in 1995.
-There is limited research on the motivations for knife carrying but children who have been a victim of crime are more likely to carry knives. There appears to be a link between knife carrying and whether or not young people feel safe from crime and victimisation.
-The available research shows that children, young people, those living in poor areas and members of black and minority ethnic communities are more likely to be the victims of knife offences.
What is clear is that (a) the panicky hoopla surrounding this issue over the last few weeks is going to get us nowhere fast and that (b) some specific targeted studies and programmes are required to target the causes of knife crime particularly among young teenagers in poor areas.
Tying poor old Jacqui Smith in knots is going to get us nowhere. And David Cameron slicking back his hair and saying "What needs to be made clear is that carrying a knife is wrong" is also going to get us nowhere fast - although it might get Cameron lots of votes among the middle classes, who do not generally have a problem with knife crime. It appears that young people in some areas may be more frightened of being stabbed (thereby motivating them to carrying a knife to protect themselves) than being arrested for carrying it.
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