Knife crime statistics - what's going on? And the politicians are trying to get votes...

Something funny is going on with knife crime figures.

According to the Telegraph, official figures show police recorded 38,082 serious violent or sexual knife offences last year - amounting to 104 every day.

But the previous year's figure was 25,013 - that looks like a 50 per cent rise. Apparently, the Home Office is taking a more detailed look at knife crimes, we're told, so ministers have changed the way crimes are measured

I think this means officials have realised knife crime was being under reported, buried away in other crime figures perhaps.

That said, convictions for carrying a knife have risen over 60 per cent from 3805 (1998) to 6169 (2007) has increased by more than half in ten years, it has been revealed.

Interesting that more people are being convicted - but are more people also carrying, and using, knives in these times?

There seemed to be progress a while back... now there seems confusion. People in charge seem to be doing a poor job communicating a true picture of the knife crime situation. That is not good. Maybe we need a knife and gun crime tsar?

I noticed the Tories (shadow home secretary Chris Grayling) are trying to make political gains, claiming Labour isn't doing enough to tackle knife crime. An election is looming so they are looking for votes. Is Labour doing an ok job? Can the others do any better? To be honest, it makes me sick to compare parties this way for such an emotive issue. Everyone once to stop knife crime. These people should work together - and make it clear they are working together - on something as important as this or go back down the strange, power-crazed political hole they just climbed out of.

Long may the crackdown on knife carriers and stabbers continue though - but the crime fighters need to communicate and get their act together better.

To text a stabber, try the Crimestoppers service.

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Call to ban knife sales by Trading Standards

Hey, this is good news - Trading Standards getting involved with banning sales of knives... online.

"Trading standards chiefs have called for a blanket ban on the sale of knives over the internet. Online retailers have ignored repeated warnings to stop selling them to children, the Trading Standards Institute (TSI) said.

"Mystery shopper research found as many as four out of five online stores were prepared to sell knives to children aged under 18, and in one case a 15-year-old boy was able to purchase four knives, including a large machete, using a debit card..."

Read the full 'anti knife crime' story about the call for a ban on blade sales by TSI

(Don't forget to vote in the opinion poll on anti stab knives. Just vote in the box at the top of this website - it literally takes a second of your time.)

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Vote now - Opinion poll on anti-stab knives

Views seem divided about the anti-stab knife. I've added an opinion poll at the top of this blog for visitors to vote on whether they would use or buy one for their kitchen or somewhere else in their home. Please vote now - it is an anonymous poll and takes one second. Many thanks. See more information about this new kind of blade.

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New anti-stab knives - coming soon!

Congratulations to John Cornock, inventor of the new anti-stab knife set to go on sale across the UK before Christmas (can't it be sooner...). Wonder how many lives it could save?

It makes sense for all anti-knife and knife crime campaigners to lead a push to encourage all households to replace kitchen blades with this type of new knife - and perhaps other types of blade too. What does everyone think?

Take a look at John's company website - www.newpointknives.co.uk

While not completely safe, this one has been designed over four years to work in the kitchen, but not be effective as a weapon.

By utilising a unique "combination tip", the tip has a rounded edge (much like my thoughts referred to in a knife crime blog post a couple of years ago) next to a very small point, the cutting blade sits below the blunt area.

Great for chopping veg, the tip makes stabbing quite difficult and it is designed to snag on clothing and skin. Apparently this makes it "very unlikely to inflict a fatal wound" - and tests have proven it to work.

Want to know more about how these stab resistant knives work? Read about the anti-stab design. Some more anti-stab knife info here at The Times Online. Some readers say it's ridiculous but I think it has potential, a step in the right direction. Here's hoping...!

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George Kinsella on knife crime and sentencing of his son Ben's killers - video

Thought I would try to piece together the full text of the emotional but careful and measured reaction from George Kinsella to the sentencing of the killers of his 16-year-old son Ben Kinsella.

To my mind, it was an insightful, informative perspective on this nation's knife crime problem.

I'll add and edit this post over a few days - I need to trawl the web's news sources, get it into reasonable shape and order. Feel free to send your comments or parts of the reaction that I may miss or not got quite right.

Mr Kinsella said: "How many families like ours will have to stand on the street outside the Old Bailey to get justice?

"Knife crime is now sadly embedded in the heart of Great Britain, always running the lives of gangs and feral youths.

"Parents live in fear until their children are safely home. It could be a wrong word, a wrong look or the wrong postcode.

"In Ben's case, it was something which was nothing to do with him at all."

Life sentences for Ben Kinsella's killers - video of reaction and comment from family and officials at the Old Bailey after the knife crime case.

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Knife crime statistics in the UK - round-up

Knife crime statistics are one of the most common reasons people visit this blog. I thought I'd add a list of current knife facts and figures (all published during this year 2009).

• Interactive map of knife crime in the UK
  
• Map of knife crime statistics in UK
  
• 120% rise in knife crime since 2003
  
• Numbers jailed for knife crime
  
• Crimestoppers - latest crime stats
  
• Numbers of stab victims decrease
  
• Knife crime figures 'fiddled'
  

Let me know if these are useful or there are others you are after - just click here to post your views, comments or requests.

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Knife crime statistics for London - May 2009

Not sure it's great news - but there appears to be progress in London. The Metropolitan Police have announced some knife crime statistics across the capital including figures showing that stabbing injuries are down by almost a third (30%).

A quote from a senior office probably describes the situation realistically: "There is still too much violence, still far too many kids carrying weapons, still far too many kids getting involved in what they would call a gang. This is not job done, it's job ongoing and we've got to maintain our focus."

The police have been arresting people at the rate of one stabber every 51 minutes (arrests have totalled 10266). Some 5480 bladed weapons were seized with most found to carry knives (90%) being charged with a 'possession' offence.

Doubt has been cast on aspects of this statistic reporting with anti-knife campaigners pointing out that many more people are being stabbed than are being reported, indicating accident and emergency statistics provide a more accurate picture.

More details of London's knife crime statistics.

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