Journal article
Double-edged sword: young people's online exposure to knife crime, its effects, and perspectives on prevention
Crime Prevention & Community Safety, Vol.Advanced access
08-Oct-2026
Abstract
Although concerns around youth knife crime have received much public attention in recent years, there is minimal research involving views of young people themselves. Using cultivation theory (Gerbner and Gross 1976), the aim of this exploratory study was to canvas young people's exposure to, and engagement with, knife crime posts on social media platforms, its impacts on their perceptions of safety and knife-carrying behaviour, and their views on knife crime prevention. Findings from an online survey of 193 young people (16–22 years [M = 17.9]) indicate that these young people are regularly exposed to knife violence across social media platforms with two-thirds of respondents believing knife crime is a problem in their area. In line with cultivation theory, most respondents indicated that this online exposure to knife crime increased their concerns about personal safety and the need for protection, particularly among females. Although need for protection increased contemplation to carry a knife among this sample, the overall likelihood of knife carrying was very low. Common themes around prevention indicate that young people would like to see more education and awareness campaigns related to knife-crime highlighting the harms and consequences of this type of behaviour. Combined, findings underscore potential psychological impacts of online exposure to knife crime, while highlighting the capacity for such platforms to raise awareness and educate young people as a preventative measure.
Details
- Title
- Double-edged sword: young people's online exposure to knife crime, its effects, and perspectives on prevention
- Authors
- Emily Moir (Corresponding Author) - Griffith UniversityNadine McKillop (Author) - University of the Sunshine CoastMolly Thurlow (Author) - University of the Sunshine CoastOlivia Joppich (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast
- Publication details
- Crime Prevention & Community Safety, Vol.Advanced access
- Publisher
- Palgrave Macmillan Ltd.
- DOI
- 10.1057/s41300-026-00259-w
- ISSN
- 1743-4629
- Copyright note
- This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
- Data Availability
- The data are available from the authors upon reasonable request.
- Organisation Unit
- School of Law and Society; Sexual Violence Research and Prevention Unit
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991266496302621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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