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Knives or other sharp objects were involved in ** percent of homicides in England and Wales in 2024/25, the most of any method of killing. Homicides that involved hitting or kicking without a weapon made up **percent of homicides, while shootings were identified as the method in ***percent of homicides. Overall, there were ***Ìýhomicides in this reporting year, which was slightly lower than in the previous year, when there were ***, but noticeably higher than in 2014/15, when there were ***.Ìý

Firearm homicides remain rare in England and Wales

In 2024/25, there were ***Ìýknife homicides in England and Wales, compared with *** in 2021/22, which was the highest figure recently. By comparison, homicides that involved the use of aÌýfirearm were far less common, with 32Ìýin the most recent reporting year. Due to strict gun laws and low levels of ownership, the UK contrasts starkly with the United States, which has struggled with high levels ofÌýgun violence. Although some specialist police officers in England and Wales are licensed to carry firearms, the majority of police officers are unarmed. In 2024/25, for example, there were around armed policeÌýout of around **Ìýpolice officers.

Overall knife crime on the rise

Like many other types of crime, knife crime offences in the started to decline at the start of the decade before creeping up again from 2014 onwards, reaching almost * in 2019/20. In London, where much of the media’s attention on knife crime is focused, there were * knife crime offences alone in 2019/20. Although this fell during subsequent reporting years, which were influenced by COVID-19 restrictions, it remains to be seen if the trend will continue. In 2023/24, the number of knife offences in the capital was higher than in any other year since 2019/20.