POLICE CATCH THEM WITH KNIVES — BUT HOW MANY ACTUALLY GO TO PRISON? The Shocking Figures Behind Britain’s Knife Crime Crisis

20th August 202620th August 2026 Francesca Lilleystone 0 Comments Knife Crime, London News, Police min read

Police officers stop them. Officers search them. Knives are taken off the streets. Suspects are arrested. But what happens next?

For police officers working on the frontline, catching someone carrying a knife can be the culmination of hours of intelligence gathering, stop and search activity, patrols and investigations.

But once the handcuffs come off and the case enters the criminal justice system, the outcome can be very different.

The latest official figures raise a question that will concern communities across London:

How many people caught with knives actually end up behind bars?

And the answer is nowhere near everyone.

JUST 31.2% RECEIVED IMMEDIATE CUSTODY

The latest Ministry of Justice statistics show that 21,091 knife and offensive weapon offences were dealt with by the criminal justice system in the year ending December 2025.

Of those, 6,581 resulted in an immediate custodial sentence — 31.2%.

That means 68.8% did not result in immediate custody.

The other outcomes included suspended sentences, community sentences and other disposals. A suspended sentence is still a criminal conviction and can result in prison if its conditions are breached, but the offender does not immediately go into custody.

And the figures become even more striking when the type of offending is considered.

Possession of an article with a blade or point accounted for 68% of all knife and offensive weapon offences dealt with by the courts during the latest year.

There were 5,526 offences involving possession of an offensive weapon, while threatening with a knife or offensive weapon accounted for a further 5% of cases.

SO WHAT HAPPENS TO THE OTHER SEVEN IN TEN?

The figures do not mean that seven in ten people caught carrying a knife simply walk away.

That would be wrong.

The statistics cover offences dealt with by the courts and include a range of circumstances, offenders and offences.

But they do show that immediate imprisonment is not the outcome in the majority of knife and offensive weapon cases reaching the courts.

In the year ending December 2025, 24.8% received a suspended sentence and 22.6% received a community sentence.

For communities terrified by knife crime, the question is understandably simple:

If someone is caught carrying a knife, what punishment actually follows?

POLICE ARE TAKING KNIVES OFF THE STREETS

At the same time, police officers are continuing to carry out huge numbers of searches in an effort to prevent weapons from being used.

In the year ending March 2025, police in England and Wales conducted 528,582 stop and searches.

More than 15,955 searches resulted in an offensive weapon or firearm being found.

Of the cases where a more detailed description of the weapon was available, 5,280 involved a bladed article.

The Home Office warns that these figures should be treated with caution because not every police force provided complete information about the type of weapon found.

But the scale of police activity is clear.

Officers are out there looking for weapons.

They are stopping people.

They are finding knives.

They are making arrests.

And in many cases, they are building the evidence needed to put offenders before the courts.

AND THEN COMES THE COURTROOM

The latest figures show that 31.2% of knife and offensive weapon offences resulted in immediate custody.

The average immediate custodial sentence for adult offenders was around 8.1 months.

For offenders aged 10 to 17 who received immediate custody, the average sentence was 6.9 months.

Those numbers are particularly important when considering the growing public debate over early release.

Because an eight-month average sentence does not necessarily mean eight months physically behind prison walls.

Release arrangements, sentence type, time already spent on remand and other legal provisions can affect how long someone remains in custody.

And the Government has already changed the rules governing the release of some prisoners serving standard determinate sentences.

THE EARLY-RELEASE QUESTION

The Government’s Standard Determinate Sentence 40 (SDS40) scheme changed the automatic release point for some eligible prisoners.

The Ministry of Justice has now published release data covering January 2025 to March 2026, showing how many prisoners were released under the scheme and breaking the figures down by sentence characteristics.

However, there is no simple official national figure published saying how many knife offenders were released early under SDS40.

That distinction matters.

It would be misleading to claim that every knife offender sentenced to prison is being released early.

But it is equally impossible to ignore the fact that some prisoners serving determinate sentences are released before the end of the headline sentence imposed by the court.

And that is where public anger is growing.

‘THE POLICE WORK SO HARD — THEN THEY’RE BACK OUT’

For officers, the frustration can be enormous.

A suspect may be stopped.

A knife may be recovered.

An arrest is made.

Evidence is gathered.

Witnesses are interviewed.

CCTV is painstakingly reviewed.

Officers prepare files for the Crown Prosecution Service.

The case goes to court.

A conviction is secured.

And then, depending on the offence and sentence, the offender may receive a community sentence, a suspended sentence or a relatively short period in custody.

Even where prison is imposed, release arrangements can mean the offender returns to the community before the end of the headline sentence.

For victims and their families, that can feel like the entire process has gone full circle.

KNIFE CRIME HAS FALLEN — BUT THE PROBLEM HAS NOT GONE AWAY

The latest figures do show some encouraging developments.

Police-recorded knife-enabled crime fell by 10% to 49,151 offences in the year ending December 2025, compared with the previous year.

But possession of an article with a blade or point actually increased by 1%, reaching 28,596 offences in the year ending September 2025.

The Metropolitan Police continues to account for a huge proportion of knife-enabled crime.

In the year ending September 2025, the Met recorded 14,817 knife-enabled offences, representing 29% of all such offences recorded nationally.

That makes knife crime an issue that London communities cannot simply dismiss because overall figures are falling.

THE REAL QUESTION

The debate should not simply be about whether knife crime is rising or falling.

It should be about what happens after somebody is caught.

Police officers cannot control the sentence handed down by a court.

They cannot decide whether an offender receives custody or a community sentence.

They cannot decide when an eligible prisoner is released.

Their job is to investigate, arrest and put the evidence before the justice system.

And the latest figures show that of the knife and offensive weapon offences formally dealt with by the courts, less than one in three resulted in immediate custody.

For families who have lost loved ones to knives, that statistic will inevitably raise difficult questions.

For police officers working relentlessly to take weapons off the streets, it raises another:

What is the point of catching them if the system cannot keep dangerous offenders away from the streets for long enough to make communities feel safe?

That is the question politicians, the justice system and the Government now face.

Because every knife taken off the streets represents a potential tragedy prevented.

And every time a person carrying a weapon returns to the community, residents will want to know one thing:

Will they offend again — and if they do, who will be left to pick up the pieces?

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