2009

Guardian: Nhs data shows hospital admissions for wounds due to knife assault dropped by 8% in the 12 months to november. evidence suggest 2008 knife crime epidemic may have peaked

News Papers

Telegraph: The Vagaries of Uk knife Crime Statistics - Neutral Headline(telegraph.co.uk)

It is unclear whether knife crime is going down or up. Available official statistics suggest it has fallen since the mid-1990s, but the Government concedes the limited figures are far from reliable.

(The telegraph giving this view shows them as neutral and not giving the situation a negative view nor a positive view unlike some)

Telegraph: www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2028384/london-knife-crime-claims-14-teenagers-in-five-months.html

(states actual facts, leaving you to make up your own mind, this is again a neutral peice from the telegraph enforcing no bias on the reader)

Statistics Vs Politics Views

Believe it or not but its true: as a leading Met officer said this week, 'statistically, knife crime remains a rare even'. there are always disputes over crime statistics but there is no sign of boom in knife in the uk. its hard to question these statistics as murders never go unreported. (this shows that in perspective along with statistics, knife crime in the Uk is not a sign of a social epidemic. (www.spiked-online.com)

This being said the public still fear due to the media. For example: New London mayor Boris Johnson has even talked about 'the culture of stabbing', as if it were a endemic among young people in the capital. little wonder that one TV news presenter felt able to pose the rhetorical question, 'Is London the knife capital of the world?' this would most definately put fear into the society and is evidence that the media had blown it all out of proportion with no correlation to the statistics.(www.spiked-onlie.com)

In my own view the talk of London being the murder capital as showing it to be a daily occurance could just as easily cause a self-fufilling prohecy among the teenagers in the Uk

Peoples Statistics

Crimeforum.co.uk, a poll has been carried out with the question 'which form of media (if any) do you feel has the greatest influence on violent crime' . the result was Telvision, films and newspapers. newspapers is what i'm focusing on. (www.crimeforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=637).

Does The Media Exaggerate Todays Knife Crime in London?

"Media representations of crime have worried liberals and radicals (Wykes 2001). To them the media are the cause not of crime itself but of exaggerated public alarm about law and order, generating support for repressive solutions." http://www.oup.com/. (This Gives us a good insight on different group's ideas on the medias involvement with crime and should hopefully contribute to a majority theory on the question)

"The latest figures from the British Crime Survey (BCS) show "victimisation rates" fell two points to 22 per cent in the last 12 months. BUT two-thirds of respondents said they thought national crime levels had risen in the last year. " (This could be a sign that it's the media that have made the respondents belive crime had rose when the BCS claims it's at it's lowest rather than actual daily occurences'.)

"The BCS only talks to people over the age of 16, despite research showing children are the most likely victims of crime, According to the Howard League of Penal Reform, which spoke to 3,000 schoolchildren over seven years, 95 per cent of children have been the victims of crime, with only a third reporting the incidents to staff or police" http://www.inthenews.co.uk/news/crime/analysis-knife-crime-data-still-blunt-$1232152.htmstill-blunt-$1232152.htm (This would show the crime rates are not actually going down which is according to the British Crime Survey but are just not being researched as the majority of the un interveiwed under 16s have actually been a victim of crime, this would say the media isn't exaggerating.)

This knife crime results map produced by the 'Home office' shows london having the highest 'police recorded' knife related crime (7,428), this shows that knife crime is spiralin out of control or does it just show no change having nothing to compare it too.
The BCS suggests the number of violent incidents involving knives in 2005/2006 was, at 169,000, around half the level of 340,000 in 1995.

(19th november 2008)

www.Ipos-mori.com 2007 survey shows people think there more crime due to the media, the huge majority say its tv and newspapers which lead them to belive crime is on the rise. (sample size of 1,191).