Knife crime statistics: FOI release
Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
Information requested
1. The number of knife crime offences, broken down by offence, age of suspect, and ethnic appearance of suspect, for each year for the last ten years (broken down by year), up to the most recent data.
2. The proportion of perpetrators of knife crime who have been classified as looked-after children at some point, for the years 2022 - 2023 and 2023-2024, broken down by year.
3. The proportion of perpetrators of knife crime who have been excluded from school at some point, for the years 2022 - 2023 and 2023-2024, broken down by year.
Response
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have most of the information you have requested. The reasons why we don't have the information are explained below.
For part 1 I have included some of the information you requested. I enclose this in the annex.
The information we receive from Police Scotland is a simple count of crimes and offences. We do not receive additional information on which specific offences may have involved a knife, or the age and ethnic appearance of the suspect.
Table A8 of the Recorded Crime in Scotland 2023-24 publication contains the information we receive on the number of crimes involving the possession of offensive weapons. This includes specific figures for ‘an article with a blade or point’ but we cannot specify exactly what type of weapon was involved nor any characteristics about the suspect.
One area we are able to provide data on is homicides that were committed using a knife, by age of the accused (as it comes from a separate data collection). This is provided in the table for the latest ten years. We do not have information on the ethnic appearance of the accused.
The Homicide in Scotland 2023-24 publication will be published in October of this year.
For parts 2 and 3, and in line with above, the Scottish Government does not hold the information you have requested.
About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.
Contact
Please quote the FOI reference
Central Correspondence Unit
Email: contactus@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000
The Scottish Government
St Andrews House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG
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