Research on reducing knife crime, for safer streets

The need to make streets safer

The UK Government has outlined its priority to halve knife crime within 10 years. In England and Wales, there were 50,510 knife or sharp instrument offences in the year ending March 2024, and the UK Home Office Homicide Index data reports that sharp instruments are responsible for the majority of homicides (female and male victims).

Of the 244 stabbing homicides (41% of all homicides) in the last year, the weapon responsible in 101 of these (67% of all sharp implements where a weapon type was identified), was a pointed kitchen knife. Of the 416 male homicide victims in the last year, 189 of these (45%) were as a result of stabbings.

Of the 174 female homicide victims in the last year, 55 of these (32%) were as a result of stabbings. 70% of domestic homicide victims are female, where the perpetrator is likely known to them e.g. partner/spouse.

Whilst the majority of male homicide victims are in street based violent incidents/altercations, kitchen knives are encountered at all of these situations, regardless of urban or rural geographical location, offence type (armed robbery, assault, sexual violence, homicide, or terrorism), or demographic (age or gender) of victim.

New research from De Montfort

Leisa Nichols-Drew, of De Montfort University, and a member of the National Knife Crime Working Group, updates here on new practice informed research into safer round ended less-lethal kitchen knives.

This high impact research has already been implemented in police Violence Reduction Units (VRUs) within the UK and highlighted within homicide reviews that these round-ended knives could have prevented stabbing related deaths in which pointed kitchen knives were the weapon responsible – regardless if these were street based violent incidents or those in the domestic setting.

Police adoption of the research

Kent and Medway Violence Reduction Unit have implemented a Safer Knife Replacement Scheme as part of the ‘Pointless’ scheme. 80 households; where either a young person may be at risk of taking knives from their home kitchen onto the streets, or alternatively, where the residence may be highlighted as being a location for Domestic Abuse, have had their pointed knives removed and replaced with round ended knife.

Bradford (West Yorkshire) Community Safer Partnership, (Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence multi agency team), are due to launch a similar scheme in January 2025.

You can find out more about this cutting-edge research (pardon the pun!) by contacting Leisa at:- 

Leisa.Nichols-Drew@dmu.ac.uk