Scale of British youth crime wave exposed - 1000's of violent offences reported last year

The scale of violent and serious offences being carried out by children has been unveiled in a new report.

Freedom of Information requests to all police forces and the Youth Justice Board, reveal violent and serious crimes, including knife crime, violence against the person, robbery and sexual offences, account for more than half of all cautions and sentences issued to young people.

Last year 19,396 cautions and sentences were issued to children and teens across 42 police forces in England and Wales, the figures show. Of these 60 percent - 11,639 incidents - involved violent and serious crimes including robbery, violence against the person and sexual offences.

The data also shows that in the last 10 years violence against the person saw the biggest increase out of all other crimes involving under 18's, rising by 12.4 percent since 2013 across England and Wales.

Knife crime and violence has also increased across England and Wales over the past decade notably in London where the Metropolitan Police Service saw a 21 percent increase in knife or sharp instrument incidents between 2022 and 2023.

The data, obtained by law firm Legal Expert, has fuelled growing concern about the scale and extent of violent crime carried out by children and teenagers.

The issue was thrown into the spotlight earlier last month after a 14 year old boy was charged with the fatal assault of an 80-year-old man from Leicestershire. Bhim Kohli died after he was assaulted while walking his family dog in a local park. The 14-year-old, who cannot be named because of his age, is due to appear in court in February.

This year also saw Prime Minister Keir Starmer partner with actor and campaigner, Idris Elba to launch an anti-knife crime coalition to tackle youth violence following a spate of stabbings across the UK including that of a 13-year old boy who was stabbed to death at his home in Oldbury in the West Midlands in late August.

The new report echoes a landmark study by government advisers last year which revealed half of all teenagers had witnessed or were victims of violence in England and Wales in 2022/23.

Legal Expert solicitor Jane Davies said: "The rise in violent crime involving young people is shocking and concerning.

"Whether they are victims or suspects, more must be done to combat further increases and to prevent any more tragedies from happening."