Serious Violence Reduction Orders independent evaluation report

Product Description

Serious Violence Reduction Orders (SVROs) were a civil order introduced under the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 as a targeted response to habitual knife and offensive weapon carrying. Piloted between April 2023 and April 2025 across 4 police forces – Merseyside, Sussex, Thames Valley and West Midlands – SVROs grant police the automatic right to stop and search individuals subject to an order. The policy aimed to deter weapon carrying, disrupt cycles of re-offending and enhance public safety.

The Home Office commissioned Ecorys, alongside academic collaborators Professor Iain Brennan and Professor Mark Kelson, to conduct an independent evaluation comprising 3 strands:

• Quantitative Impact Evaluation (QIE): a quasi-experimental design (QED) comparing re-offending outcomes between individuals issued with an SVRO and statistically matched comparator groups of individuals who committed an SVRO-eligible offence but ultimately did not receive the order
• Implementation and Process Evaluation (IPE): qualitative research with 59 stakeholders – including police, Crown prosecutors, members of the judiciary and scrutiny panel members – as well as a survey of SVRO recipients, to explore delivery, perceptions and operational challenges
• Analysis of potential disproportionality: using both quantitative and qualitative evidence, potential disproportionality (focusing on ethnicity) in the SVRO process was explored