Education key to reducing violent knife crime

Knife Crime Interventions: 'what works?' PDF Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research Education based interventions are more effective than any other initiative in tackling the scourge of knife crime. That's the key finding of a new Scottish Government commissioned report from the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research. The report, which involved an extensive review of approaches and interventions that are used to prevent and reduce knife crime throughout the world, found that the most effective way of tackling the problem was by educating those who are at risk of carrying a knife at an early age. Author of the report, Rebecca Gillian Foster, who was based at the University of Edinburgh at the time of the research, and is now based at the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research (SCCJR) at the University of Glasgow said "This report reviews the current literature available and suggests that education based interventions hold the most promise for effectively tackling knife crime. These interventions should be delivered both at school and within communities, in order to reach all young people. "While custodial sentences are useful in sending out a message to young people who carry knives to acquire status, their function should not be overstated since they may not have a meaningful deterrent effect on those who carry a knife out of fear." The report concludes that fear could be addressed by reassuring young people that the police and other services are working to protect them, and that trust in these agencies is essential.