Official Statistics

Knife possession sentencing quarterly brief: July to September 2017

Trends in cautioning, sentencing, and the prison population of knife or offensive weapon possession offences.

Documents

Knife Possession Sentencing Statistics publication: Pivot Table Analytical Tool for previous knife and offensive weapon offences

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Details

This bulletin presents key statistics describing the trends in the number of knife possession offences receiving cautions and convictions in England and Wales.

This bulletin does not cover all knife crimes (offences involving a knife) as published by the Office for National Statistics.

The information presented combines all three types of knife and weapon possession offences; possession offences of having an article with a blade or point in a public place or on school premises; possession of offensive weapon without lawful authority or reasonable excuse in a public place or on school premises and offences of aggravated possession of a knife or offensive weapon.

Three extra documents accompany this bulletin:

  1. An interactive table tool showing the criminal history of knife possession offenders, giving breakdowns by gender and ethnic appearance as well as previous offences, disposal, age group and year.
  2. An interactive Sankey diagram (a type of flow diagram, in which the width of the arrows is shown proportionally to the number each represents) presenting information on outcomes and criminal history of offenders sentenced or cautioned for a knife possession offence.
  3. A complete set of tables.

The bulletin is produced and handled by the ministry’s analytical professionals and production staff. Pre-release access of up to 24 hours is granted to the following persons:

Ministry of Justice:

Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice; Minister of State for Justice; Permanent Secretary; Minister and Permanent Secretary Private Secretaries (7); Special Advisors (2); Head of Criminal Law & Sentencing Policy Unit; Policy advisor in Criminal Law & Sentencing Policy Unit; Head of Courts and Sentencing - Youth Justice Policy Unit; Senior policy advisor in Youth Sentencing; Head of News and relevant press officers (2).

Home Office:

Home Secretary; Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Vulnerability, Safeguarding and Countering Extremism; Minister Private Secretaries (2); Lead Statistician; relevant press officers (2) and policy lead (2).

Cabinet Office:

Private Secretary to the Prime Minister; Policy Advisors, Justice and Devolution (2)

Published 14 December 2017