{
 "id": "knife-crime-sentencing-england-wales",
 "title": "Knife and offensive weapon offences resulting in a caution or conviction, England and Wales",
 "category": "crime-justice",
 "summary": "Knife and offensive weapon offences – possessing a blade or an offensive weapon, or threatening with one – that resulted in a caution or a conviction in England and Wales in each year ending March since 2016, by the most severe disposal given, from the Ministry of Justice's sentencing statistics.",
 "unit": "count",
 "chart": "column",
 "volatile": false,
 "status": "Official statistics",
 "notes": [
  "Knife and offensive weapon offences – possession of an article with a blade or point, possession of an offensive weapon and threatening with either – that resulted in a caution or a conviction in England and Wales in each year ending March, from the Ministry of Justice's extract of the Police National Computer. England and Wales includes the 43 police force areas and the British Transport Police.",
  "Each offence is counted once, under the most severe disposal given for it, which may depend on other offences dealt with at the same time. Cautions include the reprimands, warnings and youth cautions given to young people; other disposals include offenders committed to the Crown Court for sentence and those otherwise dealt with on conviction.",
  "The MoJ gives the number of offences that resulted in immediate custody, not a share of all offences, so the hub shows the counts."
 ],
 "provenance": {
  "publisher": "Ministry of Justice",
  "publisher_url": "https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice",
  "source_page": "https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/knife-and-offensive-weapon-sentencing-statistics",
  "licence": "OGL-3.0",
  "licence_name": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.",
  "retrieved_at": "2026-11-08T13:14:00Z",
  "raw_files": [
   {
    "name": "page.json",
    "url": "https://www.gov.uk/api/content/government/statistics/knife-and-offensive-weapon-sentencing-statistics-january-to-march-2026",
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    "bytes": 15318,
    "content_type": "application/json"
   },
   {
    "name": "table.xlsx",
    "url": "https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6a8310e103b4fe14b1e7df1a/OFFICAL_SENSITIVE__Knife_and_Offensive_Weapon_Sentencing_Q1_2026.xlsx",
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 },
 "meta": {
  "latest_period": "2026-03-31",
  "govuk_page": "/government/statistics/knife-and-offensive-weapon-sentencing-statistics-january-to-march-2026",
  "govuk_page_title": "Knife and Offensive Weapon Sentencing Statistics:  January to March 2026",
  "attachment_title": "Knife and offensive weapon sentencing quarterly: January to March main tables",
  "accreditation": "Official Statistics: GOV.UK's page for the release calls it so"
 },
 "headline": {
  "label": "Offences resulting in a caution or conviction",
  "value": 20885.0,
  "period": "Year ending March 2026",
  "note": "6,455 resulting in immediate custody"
 },
 "series": [
  {
   "name": "All offences",
   "points": [
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2016",
     "v": 18009.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2017",
     "v": 19895.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2018",
     "v": 21218.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2019",
     "v": 22192.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2020",
     "v": 21595.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2021",
     "v": 18694.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2022",
     "v": 19751.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2023",
     "v": 19888.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2024",
     "v": 19952.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2025",
     "v": 21044.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2026",
     "v": 20885.0
    }
   ]
  },
  {
   "name": "Caution",
   "points": [
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2016",
     "v": 2468.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2017",
     "v": 2545.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2018",
     "v": 2469.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2019",
     "v": 2501.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2020",
     "v": 2670.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2021",
     "v": 2466.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2022",
     "v": 2443.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2023",
     "v": 2304.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2024",
     "v": 2026.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2025",
     "v": 2088.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2026",
     "v": 2026.0
    }
   ]
  },
  {
   "name": "Absolute or conditional discharge",
   "points": [
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2016",
     "v": 481.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2017",
     "v": 430.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2018",
     "v": 318.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2019",
     "v": 272.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2020",
     "v": 277.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2021",
     "v": 276.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2022",
     "v": 267.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2023",
     "v": 280.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2024",
     "v": 315.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2025",
     "v": 302.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2026",
     "v": 295.0
    }
   ]
  },
  {
   "name": "Fine",
   "points": [
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2016",
     "v": 697.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2017",
     "v": 720.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2018",
     "v": 705.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2019",
     "v": 530.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2020",
     "v": 502.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2021",
     "v": 485.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2022",
     "v": 525.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2023",
     "v": 552.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2024",
     "v": 540.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2025",
     "v": 556.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2026",
     "v": 581.0
    }
   ]
  },
  {
   "name": "Community sentence",
   "points": [
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2016",
     "v": 4506.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2017",
     "v": 4622.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2018",
     "v": 4824.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2019",
     "v": 5172.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2020",
     "v": 4865.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2021",
     "v": 4337.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2022",
     "v": 4481.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2023",
     "v": 4460.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2024",
     "v": 4758.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2025",
     "v": 4768.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2026",
     "v": 4671.0
    }
   ]
  },
  {
   "name": "Suspended sentence",
   "points": [
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2016",
     "v": 3320.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2017",
     "v": 3813.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2018",
     "v": 3935.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2019",
     "v": 4140.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2020",
     "v": 4311.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2021",
     "v": 4094.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2022",
     "v": 4670.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2023",
     "v": 4714.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2024",
     "v": 4709.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2025",
     "v": 5159.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2026",
     "v": 5260.0
    }
   ]
  },
  {
   "name": "Immediate custody",
   "points": [
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2016",
     "v": 5726.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2017",
     "v": 6902.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2018",
     "v": 8044.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2019",
     "v": 8549.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2020",
     "v": 8047.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2021",
     "v": 6208.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2022",
     "v": 6412.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2023",
     "v": 6656.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2024",
     "v": 6575.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2025",
     "v": 7039.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2026",
     "v": 6455.0
    }
   ]
  },
  {
   "name": "Other disposals",
   "points": [
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2016",
     "v": 811.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2017",
     "v": 863.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2018",
     "v": 923.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2019",
     "v": 1028.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2020",
     "v": 923.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2021",
     "v": 828.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2022",
     "v": 953.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2023",
     "v": 922.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2024",
     "v": 1029.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2025",
     "v": 1132.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year ending March 2026",
     "v": 1597.0
    }
   ]
  }
 ]
}