Are Knives Really a Problem in the UK?

I've tried to ignore the rather sensationalist reporting of the knife issue over the past couple of weeks. For those that don't know, most of the newspapers have carried cover articles on the recent fatal stabbings of five men in the space of 24 hours, the murder of two French biochemistry students (whose bodies were subsequently set ablaze) and the murder of two school-aged boys. Today there is more news of a stabbing at the "T in the Park" festival in Scotland, and a fatal stabbing at a pub in Bolton. For many it seems to be the scourge of our cities, with a new series of incidents apparently arising every day. But is knife crime really becoming an epidemic? Or does the sense of hysteria surrounding the cases say something about our national culture?

Twenty teenagers have died as the result of violent attacks on the streets of London this year. Some were stabbed, others were attacked with guns, baseball bats and fists. Politicians are claiming that these attacks and those in Bolton and Perth suggest that violent crime is escalating across the UK. But is it really that bad now? A little research points to a past littered with groups such as the 1950s Teddy Boys (armed with flick knives and switchblades), a group that supposedly inspired the ultra-violence of Burgess' "A Clockwork Orange". What of the running battles between the Mods and Rockers in the 1960s, and the football holliganism of the 1970s and 80s. What about the uproar surrounding the murder of the 11-year-old Rhys Jones in Liverpool? He was shot. Once upon a time it was shootings such as this that were seen as the scourge of inner cities, but now it appears as though the blade has replaced the bullet in the headlines.

Knives have been a problem for many years in some cities in the UK. I remember going to Glasgow a few years ago, and during a stay of 48 hours there were three fatal stabbings within the city. Changes in the way in which crime statistics are recorded has helped to put a true figure on the proportion of violent crime that can be atributed to knives. And the surprising conclusion is that the reported incidence of knife crime in Metropolitan London has fallen on the level last year. So knives have been around for years. Why all the hysteria now? I think that there are two main reasons.

Firstly, more people are carrying knives as weapons. Indeed the BBC has been showing footage of a group of black-clad youths brandishing and posing with meat cleavers (rather delicately placed within their tracksuit waistbelt!). When more people carry knives, they are more likely to pull them out when they feel threatened. Violence ensues. According to the British Crime Survey (BCS), overall violent crime has across England and Wales decreased by 41% since a peak in 1995. Knives are used in about 8% of violent incidents, according to the BCS, a level that has largely remained the same during the past decade. These figures do not, however, include figures for under 16s, something that the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith announced would change from this month.

Secondly, and I feel more importantly in explaining this hysteria, is the role played by fear of crime. Recent reports in Liverpool and Manchester have actually concluded that gunshot wounds are the most common form of violence in these areas. According to the BCS, no child in the SE of the country (excluding London) received treatment for stab wounds, a figure that suggests that knife violence remains a predominantly urban problem. Also, media coverage has become more extensive and crimes are being reported in "real-time". A BBC News montage yesterday ran a series of news clips that had been placed together as highlights of the days news. All related to the knife crimes mentioned above, yet interestingly the temporal distribution of these horrible events had been collapsed together. There was no discussion of the individual causes and locations of the events, only another knife crime warning.

Whilst these events are terrible reminders of the power of gangs in certain communities and areas, I fear that the mass hysteria that is currently breaking out is misplaced. I think that we need to get some sort of perspective and understand that these crimes are events that have individual motivations and consequences. To solve the problem of knives (and guns, bats and fists) we need to try and block out these motivations, and hopefully never have to see the consequences again.

Blygt.