The volume of knife attacks is staggering – official statistics show a record number of offences involving a knife or sharp instrument last year. Our communities are no longer safe havens but places people fear to tread after dark.
Knife-enabled crime recorded by the police in the year ending June 2023 increased by three per cent (50,833 offences) compared with the year ending June 2022 (49,435 offences).
This was still seven per cent lower than pre-coronavirus pandemic levels in the year ending March 2020 (54,417 offences).
This crisis seems to have crept up on us unawares. For too long it was viewed as an inner city problem confined to London gangs. But the tentacles of violence have spread insidiously into the home counties. Picturesque towns and villages are now stalked by the sinister shadow of knife crime.
No longer can we ignore the elephant in the room – this is a national emergency that requires urgent action.
Of course there is no single cause we can point to. The reasons are complex and manifold. Police cuts have clearly left a vacuum on the streets for gangs and criminals to exploit.
But we must also acknowledge the impact of poverty, lack of opportunity, and dysfunctional backgrounds that can lead young people down the wrong path.
Mental health issues are another contributory factor behind those who see violence as a way to vent their distress.
But understanding the causes is one thing – tackling the epidemic is another. And on this front, the government’s response has been woefully inadequate.
Beyond talking tough, what concrete steps have actually been taken? Where is the coherent national strategy and funding needed to roll back the tide of violence? Platitudes and empty rhetoric don’t save lives. Nor does constantly hifting responsibility onto cash-strapped local authorities and charities.
A tightly focused public health approach is urgently required. This means investing properly in prevention – youth services, mentoring programmes, mental health support, job creation schemes.
It means getting smart with data-driven policing to target known gangs and knife crime hotspots. Sentences for carrying knives need toughening to act as a real deterrent. And more emphasis should be placed on mediation and conflict resolution to nip disputes in the bud before they escalate to murderous violence.
There are no quick fixes here – turning the tanker around will take time. But we cannot afford to wait a moment longer. The blood of lost teenagers cries out for justice from the gutters of our failed communities.
Their grieving families deserve more than sighs of resignation at the way things are.
Their lost potential deserves more than our acceptance that some lives matter less than others.
This is a fight for the soul of our nation. If we believe that the mark of a civilised society is how it protects its most vulnerable, then we are failing. Somewhere along the road we have lost our way.
Unless we wake up to the creeping moral malaise in our midst, the future looks increasingly dystopian. But if we resolve to address this crisis with courage and moral purpose, we can still build communities where all are valued, and knife crime is a relic of the past. The choice is ours.
Dr James Williams is a senior lecturer in education at the University of Sussex
Source link
[Featured]
[Just In]
