Dozens of children across Scotland caught with knives, figures show

There were 91 cases of an under-18 being found in possession of a blade or pointed weapon in 2024 by Police Scotland officers using stop-and-search powers.

Teens now account for almost a third of positive knife searches across all age groups, and the figures come amid several high-profile cases involving youths and deadly weapons.

Two teenagers have died in the last three months, while other incidents involving knife-related disorder have been reported across the country.

The issue has dominated Scotland’s political debate in recent weeks and prompted First Minister John Swinney to issue a reassurance about his government’s commitment to youth disorder.

Analysis of official stop-and-search data was carried out by crime and justice publication 1919 Magazine.

In July, a ten-year-old was caught with a knife in the east of Edinburgh, while 12-year-olds were found carrying blades in the capital, Ayrshire, Glasgow and Lanarkshire throughout 2024.

And more than a dozen children aged 13, two of them girls, were also subjected to a positive blade search.

In an update to the Scottish Police Authority last month, Police Scotland Chief Constable Jo Farrell said while violent crime was “at historically low levels, she was “concerned about the some of the trends around violent crime committed by young people”.

Ms Farrell said this was often committed against other young people and she thinks “a notable proportion of that is happening in and around schools”.

“It’s on policing and partners, local authorities, third sector, and beyond to work together to do all we can to prevent violence and reduce the harm it is causing,” she said.

Ms Farrell added that stop and search was “a really valuable policing tactic to remove weapons from pockets”.

“To provide a sense of stop and search, in the last year we had around 40,000 recorded stop and search incidents and about one in four has a positive return, with over 900 weapons recovered as part of that,” she said.

“Of those 900 weapons, over 200 were recovered from people aged 17 or under.”

David Threadgold, chair of the Scottish Police Federation, called for more effective preventative strategies.

“Each one of the truly shocking statistics is a justifiable and evidenced-based reaction by the police to an increasingly concerning societal trend we now see emerging among younger members of our communities in Scotland,” he said.

“Each of these statistics is a real situation which created significant risk for my colleagues, as well as potentially life changing consequences for the perpetrator, and sadly – as we have seen so tragically across Scotland recently – the victim of knife crime, their families and friends.

“The solution to this problem cannot rest alone with the police; much greater and more effective preventative strategies have to be in place across Scotland.”

He warned against “soundbites” from politicians and asked: “As long as we cut police officer numbers, continue with a programme of closing police stations, and are forced to develop responses such as the ‘proportionate response to crime’ in an attempt to deal with unsustainable demand for our services, can we truly become strongly integrated in our communities to allow the development of the type of relationships that would allow us to play our part in keeping our communities safe?”

Scottish Labour’s justice spokesperson Pauline McNeill called for more early intervention schemes.

She told 1919 Magazine: “These shocking figures are yet another sign that there is a youth violence epidemic emerging in Scotland.

“The SNP has created a perfect storm by cutting youth work services, letting police officer numbers fall, and mismanaging CAMHS [Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services] and education.

“Each one of these 91 cases is very serious for our communities and potentially for those actually carrying the weapon.

“The only way to tackle this effectively is to have early intervention schemes that get to the root cause, and without this we will fail our communities.

“The SNP must take urgent action in all of these areas to tackle knife crime and actually do something that will halt this epidemic.”

The Scottish Conservatives claimed that “soft-touch” sentencing policies which lessen the punishment for under 25s were “emboldening” young people to carry weapons.

The party’s community safety spokesperson Sharon Dowey said: “These alarming figures lay bare just how drastically knife crime has spiralled out of control.

“The absurd under-25s sentencing guidelines mean that violent young offenders are emboldened to carry dangerous weapons.

“There must be meaningful punishments for those who use a knife and expanded stop-and-search powers for police to act as a deterrent.

“The SNP’s soft-touch attitude towards justice represents an abject dereliction of duty by John Swinney’s government.

“It’s high time nationalist ministers woke up to the gravity of this situation and urgently gave our police the resources they need to keep our communities safe.”

First Minister John Swinney has said he shares the “devastation about the loss of young lives” and recently told MSPs of a three-step approach to the issue – early intervention through education programmes, school and community engagement, and effective punishment when offences take place.

On the stop-and-search figures, a Scottish government spokesperson said: “Stop and search powers should be used where lawful, necessary and proportionate. Their use in individual cases is an operational matter for Police Scotland.

“Police do use stop and search, and it is one tool to tackle violence alongside a range of other measures such as prevention and education.”