Knife Crime

Knife crime is a particularly big issue in the UK at the moment. This is following a number of recent knife attacks on people, particularly in London.

After falling for several years, the amount of knife crime in England and Wales is rising again. Out of the 44 police forces across the areas, 42 recorded a rise in knife crime since 2011. Results released in February showed that the number of deaths made by knife crime in England and Wales last year was 285-the highest since records began in 1946.

The government has said that they are working to deal with the problem, but a lot of people are angry and say that the issue isn’t being dealt with effectively. Although the figures suggest that knife crime is increasing, it is still relatively unusual for an incident to involve a knife.

Overall levels of violence (including physical fights) have in fact fallen by around a quarter since 2013. Why has knife crime been on an increase?

The UK’s top police officer Cressida Dick has said that she believes that there is ‘some link’ between the fall of police officers and rise in violent crime (knife crime).

By Ioana 5J