In 2023, there were estimated to have been ** acid attacks in London, compared with ** in 2022. Within a few years, the number of acid attacks in London increased from just ** in 2012 to *** in 2017, before gradually falling in the years since. Although overall crime in London has also risen in a similar time period, this type of attack has grown at a far more rapid rate. Most acid attacks in 2017 were committed by young men against other young men, while many of the targets were people riding mopeds. Links with moped crime The targeting of moped drivers by acid attacks was one of the main features of the acid attack crime wave in the late 2010s. One of the established patterns was to incapacitate the driver with corrosive fluid, and then steal the moped, which was hen often used to commit further crimes. The number of crimes committed by people riding a moped in London grew at a very similar rate to acid attacks, reaching ****** offences in 2017, compared with just over ***** in 2014. Although both these specific types of crimes have declined in the UK capital, violent crime more broadly has remained high. Violent crime in the capital The number of violent crimes reported in London reached a recent peak of over ******* offences in 2021/22, declining only slightly in 2022/23. There has, however, been a slight decline in homicides in the UK capital, with offences falling from *** in 2017/18, to *** by 2022/23. Although this was by far the most homicides of any police force area in England and Wales, when adjusted for population size, London's homicide rate was lower than eleven other areas.

The number of knife or sharp instrument offences recorded by the police in London rose to approximately 15,016 in 2023/24, compared with 12,786 in the previous year. This was the highest number of knife crime offences reported in London since 2019/20, when there were 15,928 offences. Between 2015/16 and 2019/20, knife crime in London increased yearly, with a particularly large increase occurring between 2016/16 and 2017/18. A wider trend The increase in knife crime witnessed in London has occurred alongside a general increase in overall crime throughout England and Wales. In 2022/23, there were approximately 6.74 million crime offences across England and Wales, compared with just over four million ten years earlier. During a similar time period, the number of knife homicides also increased, and reached 282 in 2021/22, compared with 186 in 2014/15. Due to strict gun laws in the United Kingdom, firearms are rarely used to commit homicides, with knives or other sharp instruments being used in over 41.4 percent of homicides in 2022/23. Acid and moped attacks While knife crime in London has certainly been given a lot of attention by the British media, the increase in acid and moped attacks during the same time period also generated many headlines. In 2017, for example, there were 471 acid attacks recorded by the Metropolitan Police, compared with just 51 in 2007. Moped crime also reached high levels in 2017, with both types of crime declining to much lower levels by the early 2020s. Although overall crime in London continued to rise until 2019/20, this fell back during the COVID-19 pandemic, but by 2023/24, the number of crimes committed in the capital had exceeded pre-pandemic levels.