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  • © 2021

Rethinking Knife Crime

Policing, Violence and Moral Panic?

Palgrave Macmillan
  • Critically engages students with learning exercises

  • Critically unpacks the global knife crime crisis, from authors with over a decade of experience

  • Draws on new empirical data on policing, popular narratives and industries benefiting from knife crime

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Table of contents (9 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xvi
  2. ‘There Is no Home Office Definition of Knife Crime’

    • Elaine Williams, Peter Squires
    Pages 1-60
  3. A Public Definition: The Making of the ‘Knife Crime’ Label

    • Elaine Williams, Peter Squires
    Pages 145-196
  4. A Moral Panic: The ‘War on Knife Crime’

    • Elaine Williams, Peter Squires
    Pages 197-248
  5. The Realities of ‘Knife Crime’: Life Beneath the Label

    • Elaine Williams, Peter Squires
    Pages 287-321
  6. A Joined-Up Approach to Sustainable Violence Prevention?

    • Elaine Williams, Peter Squires
    Pages 323-355
  7. Conclusion: Still Policing the Crisis?

    • Elaine Williams, Peter Squires
    Pages 357-371
  8. Back Matter

    Pages 373-382

About this book

This critical textbook looks beyond the immediate data on knife crime to try and make sense of what is a global phenomenon. Yet it especially explores why the UK in particular has become so preoccupied by this form of interpersonal, often youthful, violence. The book explores knife crime in its global and historical context and examines crime patterns including the “second wave” of knife crime in Britain. It then incorporates new empirical data to explore key themes including: police responses, popular narratives, and the various interests benefiting from the 'knife crime industry'. It captures the “voices” of those impacted by knife crime including young people, community leaders, and youth work practitioners. Drawing on criminology, sociology, cultural studies and history, the book argues that the problem is firmly located at the intersection of a series of concerns about class, race, gender and generation that are a product of British history and its global past. It seeks to trace the several roots of the contemporary knife crime 'epidemic', ultimately to propose newer and alternative strategies for responding to it. It encourages a critical engagement with this subject, with the inclusion of some learning exercises for undergraduate students and above in the the social sciences, whilst also speaking to researchers, policy-makers and practitioners.

Authors and Affiliations

  • University of Greenwich, London, UK

    Elaine Williams

  • University of Brighton, Brighton, UK

    Peter Squires

About the authors

Elaine is Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Greenwich, UK. She specialises in the politics of knife crime with extensive experience in youth work practice and crime prevention in southeast London. 

Peter Squires is Professor Emeritus of Criminology and Public Policy at the University of Brighton, UK. He is the author/editor of eleven books and has been involved in a number of research projects and commissions exploring knives and street weapons, gangs and youth violence prevention.





Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 49.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access