Knife crime committed by individuals under the age of 18

FOI reference: FOI-2025-2632

You asked

I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 regarding knife crime in the UK. Specifically, I am requesting data on the number of recorded stabbings committed by individuals under the age of 18.

Please provide the following information:

1. The number of recorded stabbing incidents where the suspect/offender was under 18 years old.
2. Data separated by each calendar year for the past 10 years (2014–2024).
3. If available, a separate breakdown for Norfolk and Suffolk counties in addition to the national figures.
4. Any additional relevant details or reports regarding trends in youth knife crime.

We said

Thank you for your request. 

We primarily produce statistics from two main sources,  

• Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) -- a household victimisation survey that asks respondents about their experiences of crime, regardless of whether the incident was reported to the police; 

• Police recorded crime (from the Home Office) -- offences that are reported to and/or recorded by police forces in England and Wales.\ Unfortunately, we do not produce statistics on perpetrators of knife crime.  

We hold and publish limited data on offences involving a knife or sharp instrument split by age and sex, the most relevant data available is in Table 11 of Appendix tables: homicide in England and Wales on the ONS website, which provides data on the number of offences currently recorded as homicide by a sharp instrument for the previous 10 years. This table includes a breakdown of male and female victims of homicide under the age of 18.  

Data on the number of selected violent and sexual offences involving a knife or sharp instrument recorded by the police in England and Wales for the past 10 years can be found in our Appendix tables (Tables B5 and B6), accessible on the ONS website. 

We also publish data on the number of hospital admissions in NHS hospitals in England and Wales for assault with sharp objects for the previous 10 years in Table B8 of our Appendix tables. These data include a breakdown of admissions by age (0 to 24 years old versus those aged 25 years and over).  

Data on hospital admissions are based on published NHS data. You can contact them using their contact form on the NHS website. More data can also be found on the NHS website.

Data on the number of knife or sharp instrument offences recorded by Police Force Area, including Norfolk and Suffolk, over the last ten years can be found on the ONS website in P6 of our Crime in England and Wales: Police Force Area data tables. 

Data on police recorded crime figures are provided to us by the Home Office and they may be able to assist you further. The Home Office can be contacted using the email: CrimeandPolicestats@homeoffice.gov.uk.   

Our statistics only cover England and Wales. Information on crime in Scotland can be found on the Scottish government website or by contacting Justice_Analysts@gov.scot. Information on crime in Northern Ireland can be found on the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency website.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) are primarily responsible for data on offenders. They publish Statistics on the MoJ wbesite each quarter which may be of help. You may also find the MoJ's outcomes by offence data tool: June 2024 publication useful. It allows you to filter by various categories including offence group and perpetrator characteristics to find the convictions and sentenced numbers. If you have any questions, the Ministry of Justice may be able to help you further and can be contacted at CJS_Statistics@justice.gov.uk. 

If you have any other crime-related enquiries in the future, the ONS Centre for Crime and Justice can be reached at CrimeStatistics@ons.gov.uk.