Provision of Development of Survey Questions of Youth Gangs and Knife Carrying

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) is a face-to-face victimisation survey which asks individuals about their experiences of a range of crimes in the 12 months prior to the interview, as well as their experience of a range of crime-related issues. Questions relating to gang membership and knife carrying are asked of 10-29-year-olds within the self-completion section of the adult and child questionnaire. There are also a small number of questions in the victimisation module, which ask all respondents who report being a victim of crime about whether they think the incident was gang related and whether the person who did it was a member of a gang.

Following a consultation with key stakeholders and users of our data, we have identified issues with the existing survey questions on gangs and knife carrying. This includes: • The nature of gangs and policy priorities have evolved since the questions were first developed, such as the expansion of County Lines. • The definition of gangs is too broad and doesn't differentiate between gangs where crime is and isn't involved • The need for more granular questions to understand the nature of gang involvement Therefore, re-development of the existing survey questions on gangs and knife carrying is required to address these issues and ensure the questions reflect policy priorities.