‘KNIFE CRIME INTERVENTIONS: WHAT WORKS?’ FINDINGS FROM A LITERATURE REVIEW Rebecca Foster, PhD Student, Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research (SCCJR)

Background to the report The SCCJR- who are we? Scottish Government commissioned the SCCJR to produce this report Lack of robust, shared knowledge on ‘what works’ to tackle knife carrying/knife crime >> SCCJR asked to fill in this gap. o Features of successful programmes? o Good practice? o Indicators/measures for tracking success?

Terminology and limitations Knife crime v Knife carrying Limited/ non existent evaluation of knife crime interventions

Why carry a knife? Why do people, especially young people, choose to carry knives in the first place? 1. Fear 2. Status acquisition We need to tackle these root causes.

Interventions: Diversionary activities Sport o Keeping busy o Greater sense of control, direction and respect o (Complex) link between gang membership and knife carriage (Bannister et al, 2010); sports membership can generate similar feelings to gang membership Mentoring programmes o Adult <> Young Person o Young person <> Young person

Interventions: The importance of education Education= essential Raising awareness of dangers and consequences of knife carriage/knife crime But we need to address the very real fear many young people feel Formal and informal approach to education (education in schools and in communities) Media could be a force for good here

Criminal Justice Response Measured and careful use: establishing and maintaining trust is essential ‘Stop and search’ ‘Tough’ custodial sentence Knife amnesties The bigger picture? > Broad approach to violence reduction needed

Any questions? Thanks for listening!