This critical textbook looks beyond the immediate data on knife crime to try and make sense of what is a global phenomenon. Yet it especially explores why the UK in particular has become so preoccupied by this form of interpersonal, often youthful, violence. The book explores 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 various interests benefiting from the 'knife crime industry'. It captures the "voices" of those impacted by knife crime including young people, community leaders, and youth work practitioners. Drawing on criminology, sociology, cultural studies and history, the book 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 its global past. It seeks to trace the several roots of the contemporary knife crime 'epidemic', 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, whilst also speaking to researchers, policy-makers and practitioners.
Chapter 1: 'There is no Home Office definition of knife crime.'When it bleeds, it leads'Knife crime': recent history, data and trendsMore Recent TrendsStill Policing the CrisisDeeper Background; longer historyTowards a different understanding
Chapter 2: Knives and violence in history and culture: A global history of stabbing.Knives in history and cultureKnife fighting culturesKnives and the militaryA global criminology of knife violence?
Chapter 3: A Prelude to 'Knife Crime' : Gangs, weapons and the 'MacPherson Effect' IntroductionThe two sides of New Labour: Youth offending and Racialisation in the Third WayInstitutionalisation of Youth Deviance Gangs, Guns and 'Total Policing'"Institutionally Racist": Questioning police legitimacyCriticism of the report: The 'Macpherson Effect'. A Knife Code for a New Millennium Conclusion
Chapter 4: A Public Definition: The Making of the 'Knife Crime' labelIntroductionWhen 'Knife Crime' was a Scottish problem.The Case of Luke WalmsleyViolence and Children: The Gold Standard of NewsworthinessReporting the Knife Crime Report Making 'knife crime' newsMaking Knife Crime a 'Black Crime'Stop and Search - "For Their Own Good"Conclusion.
Chapter 5: A Moral Panic and the 'War on Knife Crime' IntroductionA Spike in 'Knife Crime'? 'Knife Crime' as Culture: Slippery Racism The War on 'Knife Crime' From the Crisis of the banks to the Crisis on the StreetsPolitical Response and Public Resistance. The End Game? 'Knife Crime' normalisation
Chapter 6: The 'Knife Crime Industry': Knife Fetish and the Commodification of Violence Prevention IntroductionThe shape of the industrySelling Knife Crime WorkCampaigning for Individual Change The Commodification of 'Knife Crime' Police Twitter and the Fetishised Knife. 'Knife Crime' the Floating Signifier Conclusion
Chapter 7: The Realities of Knife Crime: Life Beneath the LabelIntroductionViolent Sociological Shifts of 2007 -2008The destabilising impact of proactive policingGenerational shifts Community Fragmentation Lucrative business and Pyramid schemes Confrontation and Hostility; Experiencing Exceptional PolicingInstitutionalised anti-racism and depoliticising 'knife crime'Specialisation in Youth Justice; 'Knife Crime Work'Resilience and Retribution: Focus Group Analysis.Conclusion
Chapter 8: A Joined-Up Approach to Sustainable Violence Prevention ?Knife crime as a public health issueSustainable Violence Reduction strategy: Prioritising without stigmatising?
Chapter 9: Conclusion: still policing the crisis ?
Index
