Knife carrying not linked to ethnicity, research finds

There is no significant link between ethnicity and knife carrying in the UK, research has found. A briefing sent to all police forces in England and Wales by the College of Policing said people pick up weapons for protection, “street credibility” or to commit crimes.

The research found that factors including child abuse, neglect, school exclusions, being taken into care or having parents who are criminals or addicts are more likely to affect weapons possession in later life.

But despite black people being nine-and-a-half times more likely to be stopped and searched than white people in England and Wales, the analysis “indicates that there is no statistically significant relationship between ethnicity and weapon carrying”.

Numerous far-right pundits have promoted myths about “black crime”, and the government has been accused of overlooking the brutal murders of young black men.

The College of Policing, which sets standards for police as the main national professional body, said the briefing document is the first “rounded picture” of research that forces can use to tackle knife crime.

And the paper places doubt on the deterrent effect of stop-and-search, following separate research finding no proof that the power significantly reduces knife crime.

The College of Policing said that although seizing weapons can prevent stabbings, analysis over a 10-year period suggested stop-and-search “has a marginal deterrent effect on crime rates overall”.

It warned that if young people feel they are targetted unfairly, it can “reduce their willingness to comply with the law, and is associated with the increased risk that they consider violence to be an option in achieving certain goals”.

The research also dealt a blow to Home Office claims that lengthened prison sentences will deter knife crime, saying that juvenile detention “has been found to significantly increase reoffending”.

It concluded that a public health approach that the government is now supporting after success in Scotland is the most effective method.

“Knife crime perpetrators and victims are most likely to be males in late adolescence,” the research said. “Risk factors for serious violence and weapon carrying include adverse childhood experiences and poor educational attainment.

“Ethnicity has been found to have no significant effect on weapon carrying in the UK. The most successful approaches to reducing violence include well-implemented problem-solving and focused deterrence strategies.”

Deputy chief constable Bernie O’Reilly, director at the College of Policing, said: “Everyone in policing is deeply concerned about the increase in serious violence taking place on our streets and the danger this poses to the public, and to officers and staff.

“To best tackle this, the police and others need to know what works and, just as importantly, what doesn’t work. An increased use of stop-search by police in a targetted way can have a short-term impact to reduce crime but this must be balanced with maintaining public trust and confidence to ensure we do not undermine the strength in the service to build community relations.

”The long-term solution is much more complex and broader than the police service. It requires committed leadership from multiple agencies who all have a responsibility to address this issue.”

Knife crime surged to the highest levels since records began in England and Wales in 2018, when homicide also reached a 10-year-high.

The government has named the drugs market and social media as drivers of violent crime, and has pledged to tackle it with a “public health approach” and a dedicated strategy.

But police say funding cuts that caused the loss of more than 20,000 officers since 2010 have hampered their ability to prevent and investigate stabbings, while charities have attacked slashed youth-service budgets.

As the prime minister held a knife-crime summit at Downing Street earlier this month, she was accused of holding personal responsibility for the bloodshed, after six years in charge of policing as home secretary.

“What she’s done to policing is unforgivable and she’s now seeing the impact of that,” said John Apter, chair of the Police Federation.

The Home Office said it had increased police funding by more than £1bn this year, including dedicated funding for violent crime, and extended powers including stop and search. The government has also invested more than £220m in projects to steer young people away from crime.