This is the dataset from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) for y/e June 2022, published October 7th 2022. This set is confined to data on Firearms, knife and sharp instrument offences, offences involving a corrosive substance, hospital admissions for assault with sharp objects, fraud, offences flagged as domestic abuse-related, corruption, child sexual abuse and child exploitation. Data tables also include information on anti-social behaviour, perceptions, and non-notifiable incidents.These data tables are published alongside the bulletin Crime in England & Wales, year ending June 2022, published on 27 October 2022
Editorial comment: Care though needs to be taken in commenting on these statistics, which should not be manipulated to disguise longer term trends, particularly in fatal attacks with sharp instruments which remains a matter of greater concern. Care in particular should taken in drawing general conclusions from national trends, rather than looking at metropolitan trends, particularly in London.
Police recorded crime provides a better measure than the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) of higher-harm but less common types of violence, such as those involving a knife or sharp instrument (knife-enabled crime). Knife-enabled crime recorded by the police remained 9% lower (49,991 offences) than pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic levels in the year ending March 2020 (55,076 offences). This is mainly because the number of knife-enabled robbery offences (17,757 offences) was 27% lower in the year ending June 2022 than in the year ending March 2020 (24,314 offences). Levels of knife-enabled crime fell to 46,081 offences in the year ending June 2021 because of government restrictions on social contact. It has increased by 8% in the year ending June 2022 while remaining below pre-coronavirus pandemic levels. There were increases across all knife-enabled violent and sexual offences except for homicide, which decreased by 1% to 259 offences.
There were however 49,991 offences involving a knife or sharp instrument recorded by police in the 12 months prior to June which is an 8% increase year-on-year. The trend in fatal attacks with a sharp instrument continues on an upward curve in the longer term. Note that a new cross-police force methodology for counting the number of recorded offences involving knives or sharp instruments, including revisions to the coverage and guidance of the offences which involve knives or sharp instruments collection.
For all data related to Crime and Justice please see the links below:
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datalist?filter=datasets
For a breakdown of the statistics involving homicides please visit:
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/bulletins/crimeinenglandandwales/latest#homicide
