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By Ruwan Uduwerage-Perera MA, MSc, FHEA, FRSA Professor of Policing - Institute of Policing, University of Staffordshire Emeritus Scholar (Prof), Emeritus Resource Faculty (Policing) - Rashtriya Raksha University External Examiner (Policing) - University of Law Former Cluster Lead - Policing, Criminology & Justice Former Director - Centre for Policing Innovation, Enterprise & Learning (PIEL) Royal Docks School of Business and Law, University of East London
Ruwan Uduwerage-Perera holds the title of visiting Professor of Solution-Oriented Policing at De Montfort University and Visiting Professor of Policing within the Institute of Policing, Staffordshire University, and Emeritus Scholar at the Emritus Research Faculty at Rashtriya Raksha University, India. A former British police officer, he is recognised for his pracademic approach, combining policing practice with academic research in policing, criminology, community engagement, police reform, equality, diversity, and human rights. He previously served as the first elected general secretary of the National Black Police Association and as director of policing, criminology, and justice at the University of East London. His research focuses on solution-oriented practice, community engagement, police legitimacy, and criminal justice reform in the UK and internationally.
In April 2026, with the publication of the latest United Kingdom Government report on knife crime, ‘Protecting Lives, Building Hope: A Plan to Halve Knife Crime', The Rt Hon. Sir Keir Starmer MP, Prime Minister, repeated a pledge, on behalf of the British Government, 'to halve knife crime within a decade’ (Home Office, 2026).
This pledge is supported by the latest news that police-recorded crime for offences involving ‘knife and sharp instruments’ in England and Wales decreased by 10% on the previous year’s figures to 49,151 (ONS, 2026). This downward trend is also reflected in knife-enabled homicides, which have fallen significantly by 21% (ONS, 2026). As of 22nd June, 2026, Sir Kier Starmer has resigned as Prime Minister, so we will now wait and see whether a new Labour administration will be as committed (Crerar, 2026).
Knife crimes have, as Mason (2019) states, caused “media alarm”, with news outlets feeding the public a diet of fear that has led to a moral panic (Cohen, 1972). In a possible desire for short-term answers, the media regularly frames, as Mason (2019) asserts, young Black men as latter-day folk devils (Cohen, 1972) and clumsily attempts to directly link their ethnicity with such crimes (Mason, 2019), for which there is no credible evidence.
Gayle and Young (2017) argue that irresponsible reporting on such crimes, which depicts ethnic minority young people as “inherently criminal” (ibid), further demonises and alienates young people. Some populist media and political commentators continue to racialise such crimes, misrepresent crime statistics, and imply that young Black men are more likely, due to their 'race', to be involved in violent crimes. Yet a wealth of research corroborates the findings of Gwata et al. (2024), which show that young Black men are disproportionately affected by knife crime, both as victims and as offenders, as a result of structural inequalities, personal trauma, environmental factors, limited opportunities, and deprivation. These factors are over-represented in the areas where Black and other minority ethnic communities disproportionately live.
Brennan (2019), who undertook extensive research into young people carrying knives and other weapons, found that the ethnicity of the victim or offender was statistically insignificant as a cause. Rather, the criminogenic drivers were, but not exclusively, social exclusion, drug offending, delinquent peer networks, neighbourhood disorder, trauma, and a lack of trust and confidence in the police and other agencies (ibid).
Skarlatidou et al.’s (2021) research corroborates that of Brennan (2019) and, based on research undertaken in the East End of London, further highlights that an overwhelming majority of the young people interviewed were either "fairly worried” or "very worried” about becoming a victim of such a crime. As a result, they are very keen to engage in a discussion about how to seek solutions “if they feel included in the process and not targeted by it” (ibid.). Research undertaken in Scotland tends to also indicate that repeat violent victimisation (RVV) is prevalent, as well as a genuine fear (Scottish Government, 2023).
At this point, it is useful to ask whether it is feasible to reduce the incidence of such crime in England and Wales, as the current government asserts it desires (Home Office, 2026). The answer is positive and comes from north of the border in Scotland, where such a significant reduction of similar crimes, as sought by Sir Kier Starmer (ibid.), has been achieved and sustained.
In sociology and criminology, it is well known that there is no single ‘cause’ of crime, especially violence, because the causes are highly complex. As a result, there is no single response, a challenge that policing has grappled with for many years. The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 required collaboration between the public and voluntary sectors to work with communities to reduce crime, thereby establishing that policing is not the sole preserve of the police service (Crawford, 1998).
Between 2003 and 2005, Scotland saw a significant rise in violent crime, with Glasgow alone recording the highest murder rate of any European city. This prompted the World Health to dub the city the “Murder Capital of Europe” (Fraser, 2021).
The British government itself reported in 2018 that, within ten years, Scotland’s homicide levels had dropped by 50% and hospital admissions following an assault with a bladed instrument had dropped by 62%, and that this was due to the public health well-being prevention strategy adopted by the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit (SVRU) (Evans, 2018). The SVRU further highlights that over the past two decades, knife-related homicides have dropped by 52% (SVRU, 2026).
The approach taken by the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit (SVRU), established in 2005, was visionary in reframing the tackling of knife and violent crime as a task beyond the police alone, who realised they could not tackle the problem in isolation. The SVRU was established by the then Strathclyde Police, which has now been absorbed into the wider and national Police Scotland family. From the outset, the SVRU adopted the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) approach of treating violence as an infectious disease, rather than a traditional reactive policing approach that seeks to tackle the offender and seek punishment. At the time, Scotland did not have any legislation similar to the Crime and Disorder Act, 1998 (Crawford, 1998), that England and Wales benefited from, which mandated a collaborative approach between statutory and voluntary organisations to tackle crime. However, as such an approach made sense, they simply got on and did so.
Pepin et al. (2018), in the House of Commons Library report ‘Public Health Model to Reduce Youth Violence’, highlighted that WHO identified, in 2002, a more effective way to tackle the causes of harm and crime as a public health and interdisciplinary approach drawing on the knowledge, understanding, skills and experience of medicine, epidemiology, sociology, psychology, criminology, education and economics (ibid.).
From the outset, the SVRU has established the WHO principles as central to its methodology and has subsequently sought to develop prevention strategies and tactics to reduce the impact of adverse childhood experiences and other negative drivers (Pepin et al. 2018; SVRU, 2026). Further to this, consistent with the WHO principles, the SVRU treats violence as a disease or virus, in that the root causes need to be tackled and eradicated, rather than simply responding to the manifestation of the crime.
The SVRU’s public health approach to tackling the causes of violence adopted the WHO’s prosocial ecological model (Scottish Government, 2023), which highlights risk factors that may influence someone at four levels, namely:
1. The individual level includes personal characteristics and life experiences such as age, whether they have experienced trauma, whether they come from a marginalised family or community, or whether they have limited educational and employment opportunities. If any of these are negative, there is a belief that the likelihood of the individual becoming involved in violence as a victim or offender increases (ibid).
2. At the relationship level, the WHO suggests that an individual’s close associations with family, friends and peers can shape their behaviour, for better or worse. If these relationships are ‘delinquent’ in any way, this could have a knock-on negative impact (ibid).
3. At the community level, the emphasis is on the individual's engagement in external settings, such as their school, employment, and the wider community, and on whether any of these settings are associated with the normalisation of violence (ibid).
4. At the societal level, the WHO suggests the need to assess how social policies in education, health, economics, and society contribute to social and cultural norms that support violence (ibid).
Since the establishment of the SVRU, and in line with a public health and well-being approach and the adoption of the ecological framework as a guide, the Scottish Government has undertaken further research into its practices and concluded that violence should be treated as preventable, as the causes are known and can therefore be tackled (Scottish Government, 2023).
The SVRU and the subsequent Scottish Government’s (2023) report, ‘Repeat violence in Scotland: a qualitative approach', identify that a collaborative, multi-agency approach works when it co-creates and co-designs outcomes with communities to establish ‘what good looks like’ to them. Such an approach is the basis of what is known as 'Solution-Oriented Practice’ (Coxhead et al., 2025).
A 'Solution-Oriented Practice’ (SOP) approach builds on the outstanding work of the SVRU and is based on working with communities and statutory agencies to establish a positive vision of the future. Once such an aspirational vision has been agreed, reverse-engineering it makes it easy to identify the hurdles that can then be addressed. By utilising the SOP approach, the process keeps the community's involvement and ownership at the core and, through co-creation, fashions opportunities for greater success.
The partnership between the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit and the Scottish Government’s solution-oriented practice approach can further help focus all concerned on the potential positive outcomes that can be achieved by tackling the causes of harm and crime, which they identify as including poverty and deprivation, trauma and adverse childhood experiences, delinquent peers, educational disadvantage, social exclusion, substance misuse, and factors such as poor housing and community disadvantage (SVRU, 2026; Scottish Government, 2023).
Reflecting on the most recent news that Sir Kier Starmer has resigned as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (Crerar, 2026), it is clear that the new administration could reaffirm the government’s pledge and further build on the approach taken by Scotland to tackle the causes of knife crime, as previously highlighted, which is known to work.
Ultimately, every knife crime creates multiple victims and leaves a lasting impact on everyone affected by the victim's loss and the harm inflicted on the offender. Success will be difficult to measure in a world driven by retrospective ‘key performance indicators' (KPIs), because metrics such as recorded acts of violence, admissions to casualty, arrests, prosecutions, and sentences will not occur at the same rates as today. But success will be measured by the reduction in hospital admissions and deaths and by fewer families having to suffer the loss of their child or other loved one, as others no longer feel compelled to carry a knife because they do not live in fear.
This article has merely scratched the surface of a topic that requires not more research but rather more positive and preventative action. Now is the time for bold action, grounded in the implementation of practical, prosocial policies that tackle and redress inequality in society.
Bibliography:
[1] Brennan, I.R. (2019) ‘Weapon-carrying and the reduction of violent harm’, The British Journal of Criminology, 59(3), pp. 571–593. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azy032
[2] Cohen, S. (2011) [1972] Folk Devils and Moral Panics: The Creation of the Mods and Rockers. London: Routledge.
[3] Coxhead, J., Pancholi, S. and Uduwerage-Perera, R. (2025) ‘Charting a Course from Problem-Oriented Policing to Solution-Oriented Practice’, in Mukherjee, B.N., Uduwerage-Perera, R., Mathew, M. and Kumar Tripathi, S. (eds) Rethinking the Police for a Better Future. Cham: Springer.
[4] Crawford, A. (1998) Crime Prevention and Community Safety: Politics, Policies and Practices. Harlow: Longman.
[5] Crerar, P. (2026) ‘Keir Starmer to step down as prime minister two years after election victory’, The Guardian, 22 June. Available at: www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/22/keir-starmer-resigns-as-prime-minister
[6] Evans, L. (2018) ‘Tackling knife crime in Scotland – 10 years on’, Civil Service Blog, 24 May. London: Cabinet Office. Available at: https://civilservice.blog.gov.uk/2018/05/24/tackling-knife-crime-in-scotland-10-years-on/
[7] Fraser, A. (2021) ‘No mean city no more?’, Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research (SCCJR) Blog, 12 July. Available at: https://www.sccjr.ac.uk/news_item/no-mean-city-no-more/
[8] Gayle, D. and Younge, G. (2017) ‘Irresponsible reporting of knife crime “alienating young people”’, The Guardian, 28 March. Available here.
[9] Gwata, D., Ventriglio, A., Hughes, P. and Deahl, M. (2024) ‘Youth violence and knife crime in ethnic minorities in the UK: A review of the literature’, International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 70(3), pp. 582–587. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/00207640231221098
[10] Home Office (2026) Protecting Lives, Building Hope: A Plan to Halve Knife Crime. CP 1539. London: Home Office. Available here.
[11] Mason, W. (2019) ‘Knife crime: folk devils and moral panics?’, CCJS Comment. London: Centre for Crime and Justice Studies. Published 7 February 2019. Available at: https://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/knife-crime-folk-devils-and-moral-panics
[12] Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2026) ‘Knife or sharp instrument offences’, in Crime in England and Wales: Year Ending December 2025. Newport: Office for National Statistics. Available here. (Accessed: 21 June 2026).
[13] Pepin, S., Lipscombe, S. and Allen, G. (2018) Public Health Model to Reduce Youth Violence. House of Commons Library Debate Pack CDP-2018-0274. London: House of Commons Library. Available here.
[14] Roberts, S. (2021) Solutions to Knife Crime: A Path Through the Red Sea? Wilmington, DE: Vernon Press.
[15] Scottish Government (2023) Repeat Violence in Scotland: A Qualitative Approach. Edinburgh: Scottish Government, Safer Communities Directorate and Justice Directorate. ISBN 9781835212127. Available at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/repeat-violence-scotland-qualitative-approach/
[16] Scottish Violence Reduction Unit (SVRU) (2026) What we do. Glasgow: Scottish Violence Reduction Unit. Available at: https://www.svru.co.uk/what-we-do/
[17] Skarlatidou, A., Ludwig, L., Solymosi, R., Bradford, B. and Adepeju, M. (2022) ‘Understanding knife crime and trust in police with young people in East London’, Crime & Delinquency, 69(5), pp. 844–874. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/00111287211029873
