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Systemic Causes, Human Consequences, and Our Collective Responsibility

The Scale — 2025

• 20,771 CJS knife offences — year ending Sept 2025
• 21.5% rise over a decade
• NHS knife wound admissions under-25: +12% YoY
• Each serious injury costs the NHS ~£27,000

Why People Carry: The Real Drivers

• Fear and perceived vulnerability (most common)
• County Lines exploitation and coercion
• Social normalisation in high-risk environments
• Mental health and trauma responses
• Economic deprivation and lack of alternatives

Two Models of Response

• Criminal Justice Model: arrest, prosecute, sentence
• Public Health Model: identify vulnerability, intervene early, treat cause
• Glasgow VRU used the public health model → 60% reduction over a decade
• Both models are needed — but one saves lives, the other manages consequences

The Human Cost

• Physical: permanent disability, chronic pain, life-altering injury
• Psychological: PTSD, survivor guilt, depression (victim and family)
• Community: normalisation of violence, collective trauma
• Economic: NHS costs, lost employment, bereavement

Your Role as a Bystander

• The bystander effect: diffusion of responsibility kills people
• The 3 Ds: Direct, Distract, Delegate
• Safe intervention does not mean physical intervention
• Calling 999 or Crimestoppers is action — not weakness

Professional Responsibilities

• Serious Violence Duty: education, health, police, local authorities
• Duty to share information when safeguarding is at risk
• Early identification saves more lives than late intervention
• Your future profession almost certainly has a statutory role here

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One fewer weapon. One more conversation. One life saved.