Rethinking Knife Crime: Policing, Violence and Moral Panic?

This critical textbook looks beyond the data on knife crime to try and make sense of this global phenomenon. It explores why the UK in particular has become so preoccupied by this form of interpersonal, often youthful, violence.
It lays out knife crime in its global and historical context and examines crime patterns including the 'second wave' of knife crime in Britain. It then incorporates new empirical data to explore key themes including: police responses, popular narratives, and the industries benefiting from the knife crime industry. It captures the ‘voices’ of those involved in knife crime including perpetrators, victims, and youth workers. Drawing on criminology, sociology, cultural studies and history, it argues that the problem is firmly located at the intersection of a series of concerns about class, race, gender and generation that are a product of British history and global past. It seeks to trace the several roots of the contemporary knife crime issue, ultimately to propose newer and alternative strategies for responding to it. It encourages a critical engagement with this subject, with the inclusion of some learning exercises for undergraduate students and above in the the social sciences, and it also speaks to researchers, policy-makers and practitioners.