DROP THE KNIFE

Take Action – Stop Knife Crime

Drop the Knife

Carrying a knife does not make you safer. It makes you a target, a suspect, and a potential prisoner.

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50,430

Knife crime offences recorded in England and Wales in the year ending September 2025 — down 9% year-on-year. The scale remains significant. — ONS

London

The Metropolitan Police area records the highest rate of knife crime in the UK — 182 offences per 100,000 people. But no city, town, or community is immune.

174

People killed by knives or sharp instruments in England and Wales in the year ending September 2025 — the lowest figure since current recording began, down 23% from the previous year. Every one of them was someone's person and they matter.

Carrying a Knife

The Reality of Carrying a Knife. Some young people carry knives because they think it will keep them safe in a dangerous world. They believe that having a weapon gives them an edge, a way to defend themselves or deter threats. However, the evidence and real-life outcomes show the opposite is often true: carrying a knife frequently increases the overall risk of harm, escalation, serious injury, arrest, or even death.

Weapons can create a false sense of security that leads to riskier behaviour. People who carry knives are more likely to get into confrontations they might otherwise avoid, because they feel “armed.” In heated moments—arguments between friends, rivalries at school or on social media, or chance encounters on the street—a knife can turn a minor clash into a life-changing tragedy. Statistics and police reports consistently show that knives carried for protection are often taken and used against the carrier during a struggle. What starts as “just in case” can end in impulsive use with irreversible consequences.

The ripple effects go far beyond the individuals directly involved. Victims suffer physical injuries, long-term trauma, and psychological scars. Families grieve lost loved ones or support children through court cases and imprisonment. Communities become more fearful and divided, with parents worrying about letting their kids out, schools tightening security, and local areas feeling less safe. Knife crime is not just a “criminal justice” issue—it is deeply tied to fear, trauma, exploitation, mental health struggles, and cycles of violence that affect entire generations of young people and the society they live in.

The Law & Sentencing

In the UK, knife possession is taken extremely seriously by police, courts, and government. The law does not distinguish much between “carrying for protection” and carrying with criminal intent—if you have no good reason, it is illegal.

Key points under current UK law include:

Offensive Weapons Act 1996 and Criminal Justice Act 1988 make it an offence to carry a knife or other bladed article in public without “good reason” or lawful authority.
“Good reason” might include a chef carrying knives to work in a bag, a tradesman with tools, or religious/cultural items in specific contexts—but not self-defence.
Even a small folding pocket knife with a blade under 3 inches can be illegal if it locks or if there is intent to use it as a weapon.

Stop and Search Powers

Police have strong powers to search people they suspect of carrying knives:

Under Section 1 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE), officers can stop and search anyone if they have reasonable grounds to suspect the person is carrying a weapon or other prohibited items.
View the law here
In high-risk areas or when serious violence is anticipated, Section 60 authorisations (under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994) allow police to carry out searches without reasonable suspicion for a limited time in a specific location.
View Section 60 here

Sentencing

First-time offenders can receive cautions, community sentences, or short custodial sentences. However, repeat offences or carrying a knife in certain circumstances (for example, near schools or while threatening others) often lead to mandatory minimum sentences.

Adults face a maximum of 4 years in prison for simple possession of a knife or bladed article. The sentence can be longer if the knife is used or there are other aggravating factors.
Young people under 18 can receive Detention and Training Orders or Youth Rehabilitation Orders. For 16- and 17-year-olds, there are mandatory minimum sentences (usually at least 4 months) on a second or further offence.

A criminal record for knife possession can last for years and have serious long-term effects.

Consequences extend far beyond any time spent in prison. A criminal record for knife possession can block university applications, apprenticeships, and many careers — especially roles working with children, in security, healthcare, or the armed forces. It can make renting property difficult, prevent international travel (such as visas to the US, Canada, or Australia), and create lifelong barriers.

Even after release, individuals may face ongoing probation monitoring, possible inclusion on MAPPA (Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements) depending on the severity of the offence, exclusion from certain towns or cities, curfews, and strict licence conditions. Relationships with family and friends often break down under the pressure. Vital years that should be spent studying, working, building memories, and shaping a future can instead be lost inside a cell or consumed by the restrictions that follow.

Young people often underestimate how quickly a single, impulsive decision can close doors for the rest of their life. Understanding the law makes it clear that the legal system is designed first and foremost to deter knife carrying before violence occurs, not simply to punish it afterwards.

Joint Enterprise

What Is Joint Enterprise?Joint enterprise is a legal rule used when a crime is committed by a group of people. Under the Accessories and Abettors Act 1861, anyone who aids, abets, encourages, or helps set up an offence can be prosecuted and sentenced as if they committed the crime themselves.

In practice, this means that if you are part of a group and violence breaks out, you could be held fully responsible for what someone else does — even if you didn’t throw a punch or pull out a blade.

The Current Law – The Jogee Ruling

The law changed significantly after the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in R v Jogee [2016] UKSC 8.

Before Jogee: You could be convicted simply for knowing that someone in the group might use violence. Just being there and foreseeing what could happen was often enough.
After Jogee: The Supreme Court ruled this was wrong. Now, the prosecution must prove that you intentionally assisted or encouraged the offence. Simply foreseeing that violence might happen is not enough on its own — but it can still be used as strong evidence of your intention.

This was an important change that made the law fairer. However, being part of a group where knives or violence are involved remains extremely risky.

What the Prosecution must prove to convict someone under joint enterprise, the prosecution has to show:

There was a common purpose or agreement (spoken or unspoken) to commit a crime.
You actively participated, assisted, or encouraged that criminal purpose.
You intentionally assisted or encouraged the specific offence that occurred.

Being present at the scene, associating with the wrong people, or knowing violence was possible is not automatically enough — there must be evidence of intentional encouragement or assistance.

How It Works in Practice

While the Jogee ruling was a positive reform, its real-world impact has been more limited than many hoped. Very few people convicted under the old rules have had their convictions overturned on appeal. Juries are still allowed to consider what you foresaw as important evidence when deciding whether you intended to assist.

The message is clear: even if you are on the edge of the group — watching, encouraging, filming, or just “being there” — you can still find yourself facing the same serious charges and sentences as the person who actually used the knife.

To see how this plays out in real life, read Kyle — part of our Prison & Prosecco handbook series, available in our shop.

It's a serious, unflinching look at county lines, knife crime, and joint enterprise. The book follows Kyle, an ordinary 22-year-old from Doncaster, and the journey that pulls him in: how he gets drawn into county lines, into knife crime, into a joint enterprise charge — through arrest, the courtroom, and finally life inside prison.

It puts a human face on everything this page sets out. The law, the charges, the sentences — Kyle shows you what they actually mean for one young man, and how quickly an ordinary life can change. See below.

The Stories Behind the Statistics

We created these narrative handbooks to take the reader through the full picture of knife crime — the lived reality, told by the people inside it. Kyle is twenty-two, a long way down a road he didn't see opening. Reece is fifteen, processed as a dealer when he was a child being used as one.

We also recognise a reality too often overlooked: a growing number of young women are being drawn into knife crime. That's why our next handbook, Reuben & Shay, follows two young people — one of them female — into the same world from two very different paths. Coming soon.

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