Weapons offences in the West of Scotland 2005-2014 and their temporal relationship to violence prevention initiatives

Background. Recorded crime figures show a marked reduction in interpersonal violence in Scotland over the past 8 years. The West of Scotland has traditionally had issues with knife crime, particularly among young men. Several violence prevention initiatives in education, health and criminal justice have attempted to address this issue in recent years.

Methods. Crime reports from 2005-2014 from the former Strathclyde Police Force area, covering much of the West of Scotland, were examined and incidences of weapons offences noted.  Changes in the incidence of knife related offences and in the profile of the offenders committing those offences were determined. This was then related to the introduction of various violence prevention initiatives.

Results. Between 2005-2014 there were a total of 45881 weapons offences, 18531 of which involved a knife.  The number of weapons offences recorded annually fell from 5724 in 2005 to 2310 in 2014. The average age of offenders in relation to knife offences increased from 24.43 in 2005 to 29.02 in 2014. Young people aged 10-19 accounted for 41.2% of arrests for weapons offences in 2005 while in 2014 they accounted for just 23.9%. During this time period there was considerable investment in activities to reduce violence in Scotland.

Conclusions. Knife crime in the West of Scotland has reduced significantly over the past ten years and the age profile of the typical offender has increased. Young people, who may have benefitted from increased exposure to violence prevention initiatives, are less frequently represented in crime reports relating to weapons offences.