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

Descriptions

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.