Knife crime in England rose by 14 per cent last year, according to figures published by the Home Office on Thursday. It is the third consecutive annual increase, and the highest level recorded since the current counting method was introduced in 2014.
The data covers offences involving a bladed article — everything from street robberies to more serious assaults. London accounts for the largest share, but the increases have been sharpest in several northern cities and in some coastal towns that rarely feature in national coverage of the issue.
The National Police Chiefs' Council issued a statement calling for an expansion of stop-and-search powers and for new legislation targeting online knife sales. Several chief constables have said publicly that existing powers are insufficient to address the scale of the problem.
The Home Secretary said in a statement that a review of knife crime legislation was already underway and that the government was "committed to taking the action necessary to keep communities safe." No timeline was given for the review's conclusions.
Behind the statistics are individuals and families. Danny Pearce spoke to the mother of a 19-year-old who was stabbed in a park in the West Midlands last autumn. Her son survived but has not fully recovered. "The numbers go up every year," she said. "And every year there are more families like mine."
Victim support organisations have called for greater investment in early intervention programmes, arguing that enforcement alone cannot address the underlying factors that drive knife violence.