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.

Police recorded crime figures by Police Force Area and Community Safety Partnership areas (which equate in the majority of instances, to local authorities).

Knives or other sharp objects were involved in ** percent of homicides in England and Wales in 2023/24, the most of any method of killing. Homicides which involved hitting or kicking without a weapon made up **** percent of homicides, while shootings were identified as the method in *** percent of homicides. Overall, there were *** homicides in this reporting year, which was slightly lower than in the previous year, when there were ***, but noticeably higher than in 2014/15, when there were ***. Firearm homicides rare in England and Wales In 2023/24, there were *** knife homicides in England and Wales, compared with *** in 2021/22, which was the highest figure recently. By comparison, homicides which involved the use of a firearm were far less common, with just ** in the 2023/24 reporting year. Due to strict gun laws and low levels of ownership, the UK contrasts starkly with the United States, which has struggled with high levels of gun violence. Although some specialist police officers in England and Wales are licensed to carry firearms, the majority of police officers are unarmed. In 2023/24, for example, there were just ***** armed police, out of around ******* police officers. Overall knife crime on the rise Like many other types of crime, knife crime offences in the ***** started to decline at the start of the decade before creeping up again from 2014 onwards, reaching almost ****** in 2019/20. In London, where much of the media’s attention on knife crime is focused, there were ****** knife crime offences alone in 2019/20. Although this fell during subsequent reporting years, which were influenced by COVID-19 restrictions, it remains to be seen if the trend will continue. In 2023/24, the number of knife offences in the capital was higher than in any other year since 2019/20.

In 2023/24 there were 262 homicides involving a knife or other sharp instrument in England and Wales, compared with 243 in the previous reporting year. During the provided time period, knife homicides have fluctuated from a low of 186 in 2014/15 to the high seen in the 2017/18 reporting year.

There were 116 homicides recorded by the police in London in the 2023/24 reporting year, compared with 112 in 2022/23. During this provided time period, 2017/18 had the most homicides in London at 159, with the fewest occurring in 2016/17, when there were 107. Comparisons with the rest of the UK With a homicide rate of 13.1 per million people, London had the highest homicide rate among UK regions in 2023/24. On a more localized level, the Metropolitan Police of Greater London reported a lower homicide rate than other police force areas that cover major cities, such as the West Midlands Police Force, while the highest homicide rate among UK police forces was in Cleveland, in North East England. Across England and Wales as a whole, the number of homicides in 2023/24 was 583, compared with 581 in the previous year. Knives the most common weapon used In 2022/23 there were 244 homicides in England and Wales involving a knife or other sharp instrument. As a comparison, there were just 29 homicides caused by a firearm in the same reporting year. While guns are generally difficult to obtain in the United Kingdom, knives are far more prevalent and have become a major problem for the police, particularly in London. The number of knife crime offences in London rose from 9,752 in 2015/16 to over 15,928 by 2019/20, before falling back recently, to 12,786 in 2022/23. Although 2023/24 saw a return to near pre-pandemic levels, with 15,016 offences.

This statistic shows the number of assaults involving a knife/blade in prisons in England and Wales from 2005 to 2018. The highest number of knife/blade assaults during this period was in 2017 with 695 reported cases. This is significantly higher than the 179 reported cases in 2005.

There were ******* violent crime offences recorded by the Metropolitan Police and City of London Police Forces in London in 2023/24 an increase when compared with the previous reporting year. From a low of ******* violent crimes in 2015/16, violent crime has increased in almost every year. This reflects a pattern of increasing violent crime replicated across England and Wales as a whole, with a peak of *** million offences reported in 2022/23. Overall offences also rising The overall crime figures for London also show a trend of increasing crime in the UK capital. In 2015/16 for example, there were ******* crimes recorded in London, compared to ******* in 2023/24. This follows a similar pattern seen in the rest of the United Kingdom, which has witnessed an uptick in crime after reaching historic lows in the mid-2010s. In 2013/14 for example, there were approximately ** crimes per 100,000 people in England and Wales, compared with **** in 2023/24. Police budgets rising again Due to the austerity policies enacted by UK governments in the 2010s, the amount the UK government spent on the police was effectively frozen between 2013/14 and 2016/17. This policy has since been reversed, with the overall UK police budget reaching **** billion pounds in 2022/23. The amount budgeted for the Metropolitan Police by the Mayor of London for 2023/24 was **** billion British pounds, a significant increase on the **** billion budgeted in 2018/19.

In 2023/24 there were 116 homicide offences recorded in London, the most of any region of the United Kingdom during that time period. North West England, which includes the large city of Manchester had 71 homicides, and had the second-highest number of homicides. In the same reporting period, the constituent countries of Northern Ireland and Wales reported the fewest homicides, at 24 each. Homicides in the UK falling despite recent uptick Since 2002/03, all three jurisdictions of the UK; England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, have seen their homicide rates fall, with Scotland seeing the steepest decline. The most significant decline in homicides in this period occurred between 2002/03 and 2014/15, which saw the annual number of homicides in England and Wales half from over 1,000 to 500. This trend was suddenly reversed from 2015/16 onwards, with homicides rising to around 700 per year between 2016/17 and 2019/20. While homicides fell back to 583 in 2023/24, it remains to be seen if this pattern will continue. Knives used in almost half of all murders In 2022/23 a knife or other sharp instrument was used in over 41 percent of all murders in England and Wales, making this, by far, the most common method of killing in that reporting year. The overall number of knife homicides reached 244 in 2022/23, compared with 282 in the previous year, and just above the 281 reported in 2017/18. Firearm homicides were much rarer than knife homicides, with 29 taking place in the same reporting year, and homicides caused by shooting only accounting for 4.9 percent of homicides overall.

Dundee City's crime rate of *** crimes per 10,000 people was the highest of any region of Scotland in 2023/24. The rate for the whole of Scotland was *** per 10,000 people, which appears to be driven by low crime in places such as the Orkney and Shetland Islands, with almost all Scottish cities reporting higher than average crime rates. In Glasgow, Scotland's largest city, the crime rate was *** crimes per 10,000 people, while in the Scottish capital, Edinburgh, the crime rate was *** per 10,000 population. Comparisons with the rest of the UK When compared with the rest of the United Kingdom, Scotland has experienced a noticeable decline in its overall crime rate. In 2008/09 for example, Scotland's crime rate was higher than that of England and Wales, as well as Northern Ireland, the other two jurisdictions in the UK. In 2022/23, however, Scotland's crime rate was the lowest in the UK, with the crime rate in England and Wales rising noticeably during the same period. Scotland's homicide rate has also fallen, from being the highest in the UK in 2002/03, to the lowest as of 2022/23. Theft and fraud drive recent crime uptick There was a slight increase in the number of crimes recorded by the Scottish police in 2023/24, when compared with the previous year. Although many other types of crimes declined during this reporting year, the number of theft offences has increased, reaching ******* offences in 2023/24. Fraud crime has also increased significantly in recent years, with ****** offences in 2022/23, compared with just ***** in 2014/15. The recent uptick in fraud and theft offences is also reflected in the jurisdiction England and Wales.

Between 2021 and 2024, the homicide rate for people of the Black ethnic group was **** homicides per million population in England and Wales, far higher than that of the white ethnic group, which was *** victims per million population for the same time period.

Handguns are by far the most common murder weapon used in the United States, accounting for 7,159 homicides in 2023. This is followed by firearms of an unstated type, with 5,295 cases in that year. Why do murders happen in the U.S.? While most of the time the circumstances of murders in the U.S. remain unknown, homicides due to narcotics come in as the second most common circumstance – making them more common than, for example, gang killings. Despite these gruesome facts, the violent crime rate has fallen significantly since 1990, and the United States is much safer than it was in the 1980s and 1990s. Knife crime vs disease: Leading causes of death The death rate in the U.S. had hovered around the same level since 1990 until there was a large increase due to the COVID-19 pandemic in recent years. Heart disease, cancer, and accidents were the three leading causes of death in the country in 2022. The rate of death from heart disease is significantly higher than the homicide rate in the United States, at 167.2 deaths per 100,000 population compared to a 5.7 homicides per 100,000. Given just 1,562 murders were caused by knife crime, it is fair to say that heart disease is a far bigger killer in the U.S.

There were 583 homicides recorded in England and Wales in 2023/24, two more than in the previous reporting year, when there were 581 homicides. Between 2002/03 and 2013/14 the number of homicides in England and Wales fell significantly, from 1,047, to 533. The recent rise in homicides has occurred alongside an increase in the overall number of crimes, with police officials linking this to long-term cuts to their manpower and resources. Knives involved in over 40 percent of homicides In the 2022/23 reporting year, homicides involving a sharp instrument were involved in 244 incidents, a decline on the previous reporting year, when there were 282 such homicides. As a proportion of all homicides, sharp instruments were the main method of killing, and were used in 41.4 percent of all homicides in 2022/23. Firearm homicides are quite rare in England and Wales with shooting homicides only accounting for 4.9 percent of all homicides in the same reporting year. Between 2011/12 and 2022/23, there were 347 firearm homicides in England and Wales, compared with 2,785 knife homicides in the same period. Homicide rate highest in North East England Although London, with 124 homicides, was the UK region with the highest number of homicides in 2022/23, it was behind North East England when it came to the homicide rate. At 15.9 homicides per one million people, the North East was ahead of London at 12.9, and the rest of England and Wales, at 10.1. When compared with the rest of the UK, the homicide rate in England and Wales was above that of Scotland, which was 9, but below Northern Ireland at 12.6. Although Scotland's homicide rate is currently lower than that of England and Wales, before 2015/16 it was consistently higher, particularly in 2004/05 when it was 27, compared with 16.4 in England and Wales.

Turks and Caicos Islands saw a murder rate of ***** per 100,000 inhabitants, making it the most dangerous country for this kind of crime worldwide as of 2024. Interestingly, El Salvador, which long had the highest global homicide rates, has dropped out of the top 29 after a high number of gang members have been incarcerated. Meanwhile, Colima in Mexico was the most dangerous city for murders. Violent conflicts worldwide Notably, these figures do not include deaths that resulted from war or a violent conflict. While there is a persistent number of conflicts worldwide, resulting casualties are not considered murders. Partially due to this reason, homicide rates in Latin America are higher than those in Afghanistan or Syria. A different definition of murder in these circumstances could change the rate significantly in some countries. Causes of death Also, noteworthy is that murders are usually not random events. In the United States, the circumstances of murders are most commonly arguments, followed by narcotics incidents and robberies. Additionally, murders are not a leading cause of death. Heart diseases, strokes and cancer pose a greater threat to life than violent crime.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The What Worked? Policy Mobility and the Public Health Approach to Youth Violence study sought to further the ESRC's strategic objective of a 'safer, fairer society' through establishing a new evidence-base on public health approaches to violence reduction, and the ways such policies transfer between jurisdictions, to shape policy, guide best practice, and inform academic and public debate. Its main aim was to respond to the urgent social problem of rising youth violence. England and Wales have seen marked increases in homicide, knife crime, and hospital admissions for stab wounds, with particular concentrations in the city of London. Cressida Dick, when Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, stated that tackling youth violence was her 'number one priority.'

In March 2019, UK Prime Minister Theresa May unveiled a consultation on a new public health strategy for youth violence. This approach, which seeks to address violence using principles of prevention and education rather than policing and justice, marks a major step-change in policy. The interest in developing this approach stems primarily from Scotland, where radical reductions in violent crime over the last decade have been attributed to the adoption of a public health model. There was however a lack of clear understanding of 'what worked' in the Scottish context. While there have indeed been marked declines in youth violence, the mechanisms that have driven this decrease are poorly understood. There is confusion over what public health approaches are, how they work, and the conditions under which such ideas can travel. As a result, despite significant potential, the implications of the public health approach remain vague.

This study was delivered in a three work-streams approach, over a three-year period:

1. What Worked
Through interviews with elite actors/professionals - senior police, politicians, and civil servants - the research team aimed to establish an expert appraisal of the causes of violence reduction in Scotland. This was complemented by a detailed documentary analysis, investigating the social, political, and cultural conditions in which violence reduction occurred, and a series of 20 semi-structured interviews with practitioners and residents of communities affected by violence to establish a 'bottom-up' account of change. Finally, available statistical data on violence and health was leveraged to triangulate explanations. These data sources were combined to produce a policy briefing, two journal articles, and a short film on the theme of 'what worked'.

2. Policy Travels
Using flexible and responsive ethnographic methods, the research team aimed to track the evolution of the public health approach in London as it evolved in real-time, entering the 'assumptive worlds' of policy through attendance at key meetings and events. Observations were complemented by a series of semi-structured interviews with elite actors engaged in violence reduction in London, and 20 semi-structured interviews with residents and youth practitioners, exploring the factors that promote or impede change. Mirroring data-collection in Scotland, relevant statistical data was used to evaluate the extent to which policy changes are impacting on violence reduction. These data were used to produce a second policy briefing, two journal articles, and a series of podcasts on 'how ideas travel'.

3. Connecting Communities
Data from these work-streams will be connected via an open access data set to enhance understanding of best practice in violence reduction. Data will be analysed and published as an academic monograph aimed at scholars working in the areas of criminology, public health and social policy. Through our advisory group and engagement with policy user-groups, the research team will engage directly with policy actors at the highest level, and using cooperative methods will create a practitioner toolkit. Communities of policy, practice and public will be connected through a website, a series of events and a roadshow.

Further information and outputs can be found on the UKRI What Worked? Policy Mobility and the Public Health Approach to Youth Violence project page.

The UKDS study currently includes 127 qualitative interview transcripts, drawn from policy-makers and community participants. See the 'Data List' in the documentation for more details.