Has knife crime increased over the last decade?

Speaking on BBC Breakfast this morning, crime and policing minister Dame Diana Johnson MP said: “clearly knife crime over the last decade has increased.”

While this is true when looking at overall knife-related offences in England and Wales, some of the increase is due to changes in the way police record such crimes. In addition, some forms of knife crime are currently at a lower level than they were prior to the pandemic. 

In December 2020 a new methodology for counting the number of offences involving knives or sharp instruments was implemented. As a result, the following year the Office for National Statistics noted that the changes and improvements had “made substantial contributions to rises in recorded crime, including offences involving knives or sharp instruments”.

It added: “Increases in these offences since 2015 will be partly because of a genuine increase in these offences and partly because of improvements in recording.”

While knife-enabled crime recorded by police rose by 4% between March 2023 and March 2024, the figure is 3% lower than the equivalent for the year ending March 2020, prior to the pandemic. 

Following years of substantial increases, offences involving “possession of an article with a blade or point” in England and Wales fell by 3% in the year ending March 2024. Although hospital admissions for assault involving a sharp object increased, they are 18% below pre-pandemic levels. 

These figures exclude data from Greater Manchester Police.

We’ve contacted Dame Diana and the Home Office for comment.