Two Children Die Monthly From Knife Injuries in England, Study Finds

Two school-aged children die each month from knife injuries in England, with most fatalities resulting from a single stab wound, according to the first national analysis of its kind. The University of Bristol led two studies on how and why 145 children died in stabbings between 2019-2024, and found the average age of victims was 14 years old. Environmental inequalities also meant children of Black or Black British ethnicity were about 13 times more likely to die from a knife-related injury, the study concluded. Dr Jade Levell, from the research team, said preventing these tragedies requires "urgent, family-centred action" as researchers called for rapid changes. The studies were the first to analyse data from the National Child Mortality Database (NCMD) together with hospital, social care and police data. Researchers said the majority of under 17-year-olds who died in knife attacks were exposed to multiple difficult childhood experiences and were well-known to support workers. Levell said: "Our analysis shows that many of these children experienced multiple forms of violence across home, school, and community before their early deaths. "Providing at-risk children with access to specialist, child-focused support, particularly around domestic violence and abuse, could help shape better strategies to prevent future child knife-crime deaths." Dr Tom Roberts, another member of the research team, said ministers need to adjust how they assess risk thresholds for children to access specialist services. "We would argue the moment your exposed to violence at home or in the community - essentially you've met that threshold," he said. Roberts added the key thing was for people to always recognise that these children are victims. "I think there's a lot of 'adultification' of especially teenage children. "Despite frequent contact with services, many children received no targeted support for adverse childhood experiences, especially domestic violence and abuse, revealing major gaps in early intervention," he added. Both studies combined reveal a rise in knife-related fatalities among children under 17, from 21 deaths in 2019-20 to 36 in 2023-24. Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) also shows there were more than 50,000 incidents of knife crime recorded in 2023-2024, an increase of 4% on the previous year. However, the latest ONS crime stats for 2025 show there has since been a decrease in knife-related deaths for people aged 16 years and over. At the start of April, the government released its Knife Crime strategy where it set out aims to invest in areas of high levels of deprivation and halve knife offences in a decade. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper previously said lethal weapons were being "put straight in the hands of children". "So this Labour government will bring in new laws to crackdown on dangerous online sales and the gangs who draw children in," she said.