Knife crime is a persistent and worrying concern, it impacts particularly upon young people and the disadvantaged, and various remedies have been tried over the years.
After trying and failing for several years, knife crime in England and Wales on the rise.
In the year ending March 2020, there were around 46,000 (selected) offenses involving a knife or sharp instrument in England and Wales. Recent trends in offenses have been affected by undercounting in the Greater Manchester Police Force area prior to 2018/19.
In addition, due to ongoing problems, data from Greater Manchester Police is not available for the year 2019/20. Excluding figures from Greater Manchester, this is the highest number of offenses since the year ending March 2011, the earliest point at which comparable data are available.
