Tue Aug 5

Governments and police are tackling weapons in public – but they’re ignoring it in our homes

Written by: Janet Ransley, Professor, Griffith Criminology Institute, Griffith University

About half of all serious weapons-related violence in Australia happens at home as part of domestic and family violence.

The weapons most used in these incidents are kitchen knives.

Yet new laws around the country overwhelmingly focus on public knife offences: most states and territories have toughened rules on carrying knives in public and strengthened age restrictions on the sale of knives.

Most also now allow police to use metal detector wands to aid enforcement, targeting mainly young people in public places.

But these laws do nothing to address knife violence at home.

Weapons and violence are rarely out of the media cycle in Australia, leading many to fear this country is becoming less safe for everyday people. Is that really the case, though? This is the third story in a four-part series. What’s happening at home? Domestic and family violence is just as serious as more public violence and merits just as much attention from governments. But different strategies are needed to address the very different drivers of public and private knife-related violence. For the most serious of violent crimes, homicides, about 56% happen at home, 54% involve weapons, and 38% relate to domestic violence. New South Wales data show that for domestic violence homicides, stabbing is the most common act causing death (42% of cases). Almost all stabbing homicides involved a kitchen knife. There is a lack of readily available data from other states and territories, but it is likely this is consistent across the country. Weapons are far less common in non-fatal violence such as assaults, with only around 2-3% involving any type of weapon. But around half of all assaults in NSW that do involve weapons are domestic violence-related and also mainly involve kitchen knives. This level of knife use in domestic violence has remained relatively stable over time despite the long-term decline nationally for the main violence offences of homicide, assaults and robbery. While rates of knife violence generally are stable, knife use continues to be prevalent in domestic violence. This persistence of knives in domestic violence is not surprising given the lack of police and government strategies targeting the issue. Tackling the problem Typical approaches to weapons regulation involve restricting sale and availability, licensing, storage requirements, mandatory training and amnesties or buy-backs. Australian firearms regulations demonstrate most of these approaches. They also now feature mandatory health assessments and bans on access by people with a known domestic violence history. Knife regulation is more limited, mostly involving bans of some types of knives such as machetes, restrictions on knife-carrying in public and age restrictions on purchase. South Australia has started a three-month surrender modelled on gun amnesties, in which newly restricted machetes and swords can be voluntarily handed in to police. Unlike firearms control, there is as yet no evidence that regulating access and carrying of knives, or improved detection, has any impact on violent crime. And these regulations have almost no impact on the half of all knife violence happening at home. A common response to knife-reduction is police-led crackdown, with expanded stop-and-search powers intended to deter knife-carrying. There is no evidence internationally or from Australia that this approach works in any setting. Also common are education programs mostly targeting young people. Again, these have these been found not to work. For young people, the strongest evidence favours individually tailored supports that address underlying needs for safety, housing, education and employment, which are the biggest drivers of youth knife-carrying. More needs to be done Drivers in domestic violence are different. While there is considerable research on the causes, contexts and features of domestic violence, little attention has been paid to the role of weapons. This is particularly so for the most used weapon in domestic violence, the highly accessible kitchen knife, which is found in every home. No pre-planning is needed for access and no regulations affect their availability. It is not feasible to ban or license kitchen knives. But a novel suggestion is to phase out pointed knives and instead encourage the use of round-tip knives, as the knife tip is the biggest contributor to lethality. This would not stop domestic violence, but would reduce its harmful outcomes. It might be a worthwhile interim measure. But for real prevention, we need continued action on the Australian government’s recent rapid review strategy for domestic violence prevention. Commissioned after the prime minister’s May 2024 declaration of a “national crisis” of violence against women and children, the rapid review examined evidence-based approaches to domestic violence prevention. It made 21 detailed recommendations including: better risk assessment and information sharing by police more use of multi-agency responses improved primary prevention and perpetrator response programs. Reducing domestic violence is the long-term key to reducing 50% of weapons use in Australia and that requires multi-pronged, integrated and coordinated approaches that are supported by all governments. It’s time for more government attention on this and less focus on unproven approaches to knife carrying in public.

Authors: Janet Ransley, Professor, Griffith Criminology Institute, Griffith University

Governments and police are tackling weapons in public – but they’re ignoring it in our homes

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