Knife Crime Is Not a Statistic — Barnsley Is Running Out of Time
Knife crime is not a headline.
It is not a political talking point.
It is not a statistic to be debated and forgotten.
It is families torn apart, lives permanently altered and young people living with fear long before adulthood. If Barnsley is serious about community safety, we must start with facts, honesty and a willingness to act.
This article sets out what we currently know about knife crime in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, and the national picture, using the most up to date information available in the public domain. It then sets out what we believe must change, and invites others to help shape real solutions.
What Counts as Knife Crime
In official reporting, knife crime refers to offences involving a knife or sharp instrument, including:
• Violence with injury
• Robbery involving a knife
• Possession of a bladed article
• Attempted murder and homicide
Police recorded crime shows what is reported and logged. Hospital admissions show serious harm, including cases never reported to police. Both matter, and neither tells the full story alone.
The National Picture
Across England and Wales, police recorded knife and sharp instrument offences rose by around 4 percent in the year to September 2024, with approximately 55,000 offences recorded.
The most serious figures are stark:
• Around 46 percent of all homicides involve a knife
• Among teenage homicide victims aged 13 to 19, over 80 percent were killed using a knife, the highest level recorded in a decade
Knife enabled robbery accounts for over 40 percent of all robberies nationally.
These are not abstract numbers. They represent a sustained failure to break the cycle of serious violence.
South Yorkshire: A High Risk Region
South Yorkshire consistently ranks among the highest knife crime areas in England and Wales.
Recent public reporting shows:
• Around 1,480 to 1,500 knife and sharp instrument offences recorded annually
• A rate of roughly 105 to 120 offences per 100,000 population
• Five fatal stabbings recorded in 2024
• One of the highest rates of hospital admissions for assault with a sharp object, including among under 25s
Some measures show stabilisation rather than increase, but stabilisation at a high level is not success.
Barnsley: The Local Reality
Barnsley is often described as having lower knife crime than some neighbouring areas. That comparison risks complacency.
Local analysis shows:
• Around 11 percent of violent injury cases in Barnsley involve a sharp object
• The South Yorkshire average is approximately 16 percent
• Barnsley’s knife crime rate sits at around 100 offences per 100,000 population, broadly in line with the regional average
Lower than some areas does not mean low. It means Barnsley still has time to prevent escalation, if action is taken now.
Knives in Schools: An Alarming Indicator
Between 2022 and 2024, South Yorkshire Police recorded knife incidents in schools:
• Sheffield: 37
• Doncaster: 30
• Rotherham: 22
• Barnsley: 14
Fourteen incidents in Barnsley alone is fourteen too many.
Only a small proportion resulted in criminal charges, with most dealt with through safeguarding or diversion. That tells us enforcement alone will never solve this problem, and that early intervention must be effective, not just present on paper.
What the Numbers Don’t Capture
Statistics rarely show:
• Fear driven carrying for protection
• Exploitation linked to drugs and county lines
• Online disputes escalating into real world violence
• Trauma, mental health struggles and adverse childhood experiences
Knife crime is rarely about one bad decision. It is about accumulated risk, fear and missed opportunities to intervene early.
What Actually Works
Evidence from Violence Reduction Units and long term studies is clear. Knife crime reduces only when enforcement and prevention work together.
Effective approaches include:
• Sustained, intelligence led hotspot policing
• Trauma informed education rather than fear based messaging
• Hospital based interventions at the point of injury
• Early family and mental health support
• Clear consequences for repeat carriers and exploiters
There are no shortcuts.
Our View: What Must Change
Based on the evidence, we believe several truths must be acknowledged.
Enforcement is essential, but cannot stand alone.
Prevention has been discussed more than delivered.
Survivors and families have been pushed aside, when their lived experience should shape prevention.
Transparency is weak. Residents should not have to dig through reports to understand what is happening locally.
Knife crime must be treated as a community safety and public health issue, not a political narrative.
What We Believe Barnsley Should Do Now
We believe Barnsley must commit to:
• A public quarterly knife crime dashboard, combining police and health data
• Consistent safeguarding and early intervention protocols across all schools
• Sustained, targeted policing focused on repeat carriers and exploitation
• Early family and mental health support, before criminal justice thresholds are crossed
• A survivor led voice, properly safeguarded and respected
This must be about saving lives, not managing perception.
A Call for Constructive Engagement
This is not the end of the conversation. It is the beginning of one Barnsley must have.
If you have been affected by knife crime, work with young people, support families, teach, police, work in health or community services, or have constructive ideas about what would genuinely make Barnsley safer, we want to hear from you.
📧 info@barnsleyfirstindependentgroup.com
We have had enough spin. We will not be hoodwinked and we certainly will not stand for being gaslit ever again. When people who have lived through knife violence ask for action, silence is not an option.
Making common sense, common again
Barnsley First Independent Group
