According to this: [https://www.datapandas.org/ranking/stabbing-deaths-by-country](https://www.datapandas.org/ranking/stabbing-deaths-by-country) the UK is ranked #183/187 for mortal stabbings per 100k deaths worldwide. The figure itself is 0.08 mortal stabbings/100k deaths, which is (to 2d.p. at least) the same as the other four countries at the bottom (Ghana, Tunisia, Oman, Monaco). For clarity, Iceland (lowest violent crime rate in the world) is #164. USA is #111. Yet, in England (including in the King’s Speech House of Commons discussion yesterday\[?\]) politicians talk as if there is some ‘knife-crime epidemic’ and it’s ‘on the rise’ (actual quotes). I live in England, and have my entire life. Naturally, I’ve never been stabbed, nor do I know anyone who’s been stabbed.
Is there tons of non-fatal stabbings/slashings that no-one talks about? I don’t understand how a country can have a ‘knife-crime epidemic’ whilst having the fifth lowest fatal stabbing rates globally.
In: Other
Most people are missing the point of this question. The UK ranks right at the bottom of deaths by knife per capita but it plays an exaggerated place in politics. We have very little knife crime.
Dover back in late 90’s early 2000’s there was knife fights every weekend with the army of Slovakians that come off the boats. Every weekend felt like a warzone… I just wanted to skate 🙁
Free health insurance and no guns make people less likely to think twice about drunkenly starting some shit at a bar.
but the real answer is the media/politicians needs something to report to keep themselves well fed. So a drunken Donnybrook where a knife falls out of someone’s pocket turns into an attempted mass murder with a knife…with added wild speculation of the persons race and religious affiliations.
As others have said, it’s because it’s a bigger problem amongst young kids, and because it’s primarily an urban problem.
But it’s also because rates of knife crime have almost doubled in the last decade. Something that definitely isn’t true of crime generally especially if you exclude new offence like malicious comms and increased reporting of historic offences. So the level may be comparatively low but the trend is very concerning.
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn04304/
England has about as much knife crime as America. But then America ALSO has all that gun crime too.
But on it’s own it’s some of the scariest crime that people might be exposed to in England.
Therefore they talk about it a lot which is why you know about knife crime in England
I imagine it’s much more of a problem in London and the large cities. Average nationwide statistics aren’t a super useful comparison, it’ll flatten everything out.
Would be better to compare specific cities in different countries.
The same reasons AR15’s occupy such a darling media/political spot in the US. They’re dog whistles, they elicit emotional response, and there’s very little to be done to create an actual shift because the current “crisis” is not really a crisis, but rather a small collection of statistical outliers. They’ll be able to talk about it forever, their opponents will disagree, and common people will fight over it instead of paying attention to things that matter
You know how when it gets really quiet, things like far away cars or your heartbeat seem loud? That’s what happens to crime statistics when you take out U.S. levels of gun violence.
Because the UK actually has gun laws so criminals need a more easily accessible weapon to commit their crimes with?
Same answer as to why the Republican National Convention is obsessed with chanting “Drill, baby, drill!” despite the US being the largest producer of oil and gas globally. At a certain point, rhetoric is not concerned with facts.
Latest Answers