Stabbing: data support public perception

doi:10.1136/bmj.333.7569.652

BMJ 2006;333:652 (23 September), doi:10.1136/bmj.333.7569.652

Letter

Stabbing: data support public perception

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—Last year Hern et al published an editorial onknife crime and clearly the problem has not gone away.¹ A quicksearch of the Times website finds 90 hits on the single searchterm "stabbing" in the past three months alone. Several recentdeaths have fuelled the perception that forensic knife injurieshave become an epidemic, resulting in a knife amnesty and governmentdiscussion of new punitive measures. An increase in such injuriesis supported by data from regional police forces and the HomeOffice, with 1200 reported attacks in London last year and 30%of homicides caused by knife injury.² Crimes defined as "moreserious wounding or other act endangering life" almost doublednationally from 1995 to 2005.³

We audited forensic knife injuries at this hospital, one ofEurope's busiest emergency departments, to establish the sizeof this problem in a representative urban area (east London).We . . . [Full text of this article]

Tom König, trauma fellow, Charles H Knowles, senior lecturer in surgery

Trauma Service, Royal London Hospital, Whitechapel, London E1 1BB c.h.knowles@qmul.ac.uk

Alison West, trauma nurse specialist, Alastair Wilson, director, accident and emergency, Frank Cross, consultant vascular and trauma surgeon

Trauma Service, Royal London Hospital, Whitechapel, London E1 1BB

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Reducing knife crime: Emma Hern, Will Glazebrook, and Mike Beckett
BMJ 2005 330: 1221-1222. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

Maxwell, R., Trotter, C., Verne, J., Brown, P., Gunnell, D. (2007). Trends in admissions to hospital involving an assault using a knife or other sharp instrument, England, 1997-2005. J Public Health (Oxf) 29: 186-190 [Abstract] [Full text]