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Knife and offensive weapon offences resulting in a caution or conviction, England and Wales

Official statistics

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.

Offences resulting in a caution or conviction

20,885

Year ending March 2026 · 6,455 resulting in immediate custody

Verified against source, 8 November 2026, 13:33 UTC
Knife and offensive weapon offences resulting in a caution or conviction, England and Wales
  • All offences
  • Caution
  • Absolute or conditional discharge
  • Fine
  • Community sentence
  • Suspended sentence
  • Immediate custody
  • Other disposals
05k10k15k20k25kYear ending March 2016Year ending March 2018Year ending March 2020Year ending March 2022Year ending March 2024Year ending March 2026

Source: Ministry of Justice. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Data table

11 rows

CategoryAll offencesCautionAbsolute or conditional dischargeFineCommunity sentenceSuspended sentenceImmediate custodyOther disposals
Year ending March 201618,0092,4684816974,5063,3205,726811
Year ending March 201719,8952,5454307204,6223,8136,902863
Year ending March 201821,2182,4693187054,8243,9358,044923
Year ending March 201922,1922,5012725305,1724,1408,5491,028
Year ending March 202021,5952,6702775024,8654,3118,047923
Year ending March 202118,6942,4662764854,3374,0946,208828
Year ending March 202219,7512,4432675254,4814,6706,412953
Year ending March 202319,8882,3042805524,4604,7146,656922
Year ending March 202419,9522,0263155404,7584,7096,5751,029
Year ending March 202521,0442,0883025564,7685,1597,0391,132
Year ending March 202620,8852,0262955814,6715,2606,4551,597

Download CSVDownload JSON with full provenance

Source and licence

Publisher
Ministry of Justice
Check it yourself
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/knife-and-offensive-weapon-sentencing-statistics
Licence
Open Government Licence v3.0 – Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Retrieved
8 November 2026, 13:14 UTC
Raw files fetched

Verification

Verified against source, 8 November 2026, 13:33 UTC Run at 8 November 2026, 13:33 UTC; 88 of 88 figures matched the live source.

ResultCheckDetail
PassProvenance recordedMinistry of Justice; Open Government Licence v3.0; retrieved 2026-11-08T13:14:00Z; 2 raw file(s)
PassRaw files match recorded SHA-2562 of 2 files intact
PassRe-parsing raw files reproduces figures88 of 88 figures and the headline reproduced; the meta's accreditation match
PassFigures are finite numbers88 figures, 0 invalid
PassLive source matches every figure88 of 88 figures match exactly after downloading 2 source file(s) again (2 byte-identical); the headline matches; the meta's accreditation match
PassGOV.UK table is currentlatest period 2026-03-31 ended 222 days before retrieval (limit 520), from Knife and offensive weapon sentencing quarterly: January to March main tables
Not runSecond official routeNo second route publishes these offences: the MoJ's pivot tool and its data restate the same extract of the Police National Computer in the same release, and Table 1a gives their offence types, which the checks add up.
PassTable 1's disposals add up55 of 55 cases of the years' and quarters' disposals add up to their offences
PassEach year is its four quarters88 of 88 cases of the years' offences, in total and by disposal, are their four quarters', April to March
PassTable 1a's offence types add up440 of 440 cases of the years' and quarters' offences, in total and by disposal, are Table 1a's three offence types added up
PassTable 3 gives the same immediate custody55 of 55 cases of the years' and quarters' offences resulting in immediate custody in Table 3 are Table 1's
PassSource page answershttps://www.gov.uk/government/collections/knife-and-offensive-weapon-sentencing-statistics – HTTP 200

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.