Britain and Knife Crime

The media interest follows an unusually high number of fatal stabbings involving teenagers, particularly in London, where so far in 2008 more than twenty teenagers have been killed by other young people in knife attacks.

The media interest follows an unusually high number of fatal stabbings involving teenagers, particularly in London, where so far in 2008 more than twenty teenagers have been killed by other young people in knife attacks.

In some cases the victims were involved in disputes between gangs, but in others it seems they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, being stabbed during arguments that broke out spontaneously on the street.

In some cases the victims were involved in disputes between gangs, but in others it seems they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, being stabbed during arguments that broke out spontaneously on the street.

In a recent BBC documentary programme, the headteacher of a secondary school in England said that the number of pupils (mostly boys, but also some girls) caught with knives in his school has increased greatly in recent years.

The British government is certainly worried, which is why it recently recommended that sixteen and seventeen year olds who are found by police officers to be carrying knives should be prosecuted and taken to court – previously this could only happen to people aged eighteen and over.

The British government is certainly worried, which is why it recently recommended that sixteen and seventeen year olds who are found by police officers to be carrying knives should be prosecuted and taken to court – previously this could only happen to people aged eighteen and over.

It has also recommended that young people caught with knives should be made to visit stabbing victims in hospital, in the hope that seeing the injuries knives can cause will shock them into changing their behaviour.

In poorer areas of large British cities, where most knife crime takes place, some teenagers have said they carry knives in order to feel powerful or to get respect, while others have said that they need the weapon as a protection in case they themselves are threatened by someone carrying a knife.

However, it is still true that only a small minority of young people in Britain carry knives.

The statistics do not paint a clear picture: for example, while the number of people prosecuted for carrying knives has increased in the last ten years, an important survey suggests that the annual number of stabbings in Britain has been falling since the mid-1990s – although that survey does not include victims under the age of 15.

The statistics do not paint a clear picture: for example, while the number of people prosecuted for carrying knives has increased in the last ten years, an important survey suggests that the annual number of stabbings in Britain has been falling since the mid-1990s – although that survey does not include victims under the age of 15.

The statistics do not paint a clear picture: for example, while the number of people prosecuted for carrying knives has increased in the last ten years, an important survey suggests that the annual number of stabbings in Britain has been falling since the mid-1990s – although that survey does not include victims under the age of 15.

While the debate about knife crime continues, the big picture is that only a tiny percentage of people in Britain die in violent circumstances.

While the debate about knife crime continues, the big picture is that only a tiny percentage of people in Britain die in violent circumstances.

Britain has a total population of around 60 million, and in nine out of the last ten years there have been fewer than 1,000 numbers.