Our expert task force give their verdict on what we need to do to end Britain’s knife crime epidemic
ON this page is the 42 people who have been stabbed to death in Britain this year.
It is shocking, sobering reading. No wonder the surge in knife crime has been described as a national crisis.
Nine months ago The Sun on Sunday set up our Beat The Blades panel to discuss solutions to the problem. And today we get its verdict on what we should now do to help stop the killing.
All panel members work on the front line in Britain’s most deprived areas. Charity founder Colin James, who grew up in gang culture, believes “serious players” should be jailed for ten years for carrying knives.
And former deputy London mayor Ray Lewis, now a youth worker, says there is “little evidence” that increasing stop and search “will stem the flow of violence”.
We put together our panel in June last year after 40 stabbing deaths in just over five months. That figure has been surpassed in just over two months this year.
Our experts called for a crackdown on middle-class drug use, the introduction of specially trained school police and championed team sports to bring rival gangs together.
But further measures are now needed. David Jamieson, the West Midlands Police and Crime
Commissioner, wants a special grant from the Home Secretary to allow cops to tackle the “serious outbreak” of knife violence.
He said: “This is a national emergency, and we must do something about the exclusion of children, because those children are on almost an immediate path into crime and into violence.”
She said: “I agree that there is some link between violent crime on the streets and police numbers . . . everybody would see that.”
Ms Dick also said middle-class recreational drug users had “blood on their hands”, adding the drugs trade is a key driver of street violence.
We asked our panel for their take on the current knife epidemic. Their opinions make urgent reading . . .
The Sun Says
POLITICIANS are quick to peddle solutions to the knife crime crisis.
Maybe they should listen harder to the real experts — the panel of youth workers and ex-gang members we assembled last year for our Beat the Blades initiative.
There is no easy solution. More police officers, the use of stop and search, tougher sentences are a big part of it.
But deeper, long-term fixes on school exclusions, community resources and social problems are also clearly needed.
Those in power must act on these demands.
Ray Lewis – youth worker and former deputy London mayor
THE sense of moral panic does not justify doing more stop and search and there is very little evidence to support the idea that it will stem the flow of violence.
Putting more police on our streets is akin to setting up a First Aid tent at the bottom of a cliff. Why? Let me give you an example.
It is not unusual to see stop and search being conducted around the Eastside Young Leaders’ Academy in Newham, East London.
I saw one earlier this week. Three officers were searching and questioning one young man whom I vaguely recognised.
The search took around 12 minutes and the young man – Wayne – was mainly compliant. Afterwards, he sat with me venting his frustration. I explained to him the recent murders in London have put our community on high alert.
But for Wayne, stop and search is only a violation. He was doubly annoyed because it is not the first time he has been randomly stop and searched. “Why stop me?” is his mindset, “I haven’t got anything on me.”
Wayne admitted he has friends and associates who carry and even use weapons but stop and search does not deter them.
So is the violation of someone’s privacy a price worth paying? In my view NO. Unless stop and search is intelligence-led, it’s akin to a blind man looking for a black cat in the dark.
Shaming already volatile young people will not make them relinquish their weapons.
Carol Murraine – London school safeguarding officer
TEACHING today is an enduring challenge. Most budding teachers, now recruited from the very best universities, enter the profession enthusiastic and passionate.
What they meet is a slanted system which works best for students who are academic, tolerant and resilient. Outside of this narrow criterion, the wheels fall off.
Since 2014, there has been a shocking rise in referrals to Pupil Referral Units (PRUs) and Alternative Provisions (APs).
Meanwhile, “off-rolling” (the removal of students from a school’s roll) is a growing concern for Ofsted and yet schools are under pressure to perform and meet academic targets.
The most troubled students will quickly be referred to a PRU or AP just so teachers can teach those who are able to learn with little or no support. For a young person, the negative impact of the transition is significant.
The resulting environment is a dangerous recruitment ground for gangs where young people create their own sense of self worth and validation through association.
Combined with an unstable home environment, rejection from school to a PRU is catastrophic. It destroys hopes and dreams.
Restoring support for families and making realistic investments in the quality and effectiveness of all relevant provisions is the only way forward.
Education is the key to life chances and choices. Less can never be more.
Colin James – former gang member, founded Gangs Unite charity
CHILDREN who become pawns in drug turf wars must be viewed differently from more seasoned criminals employing them to move cash and drugs.
For these hardened criminals there must be strong deterrents. I would give the serious players ten years for a knife crime and 20 years for a gun. If you are carrying a knife or a sword you are laughing at the law.
Offenders are getting cautions or youth orders or six months in prison.
They are laughing all the way to prison because the system has been reduced to a glorified boarding school which teaches young people crime.
Prisons are now hotels. Recently, I went to visit Feltham and returned to the exact cell I had served time in.
There was a shower in the corner, curtains, a phone, PlayStations. The only thing missing is a girlfriend. It’s too easy now.
We should go back to bread and water and design the prison experience to make people think twice about using weapons.
The gang epidemic is made worse inside because groups of young people are going in and learning more about the drugs trade from each other.
If I had a say in the law and I caught someone with a knife, I’d hand them over to the Territorial Army.
I’d conscript them full-time. If they already want to fight and kill, let them be trained to do it for the right reasons.
Deepti Patel – child advocate dealing with gangs and marginalised youth
THIS surge in violence is connected to rising poverty, driving many to mere survival.
Children’s social care and mental health systems are chronically failing.
Prisons are violent, drug-fuelled, overpopulated and costly. How is it that a place at a secure unit costs more than an Eton education, but the young person emerges better equipped for a life of crime than the workplace?
Police have to deal with mental health and social care emergencies because they have become a service of last resort. And with the Government closing courts, the criminal justice system is overloaded with cases.
Youth Offending teams, social and mental health workers are burnt out. Children left to survive this national crisis are carrying and fatally using knives. Punishment alone is not going to answer the question: Why does a 14-year-old need a knife to feel safe in Britain?
Let’s shift from vilification to understanding adverse childhood experiences.
Poverty, neglect, abuse and violence all determine behaviour. Chronic stress drives people to desperation. The solution is a trauma-informed understanding of what relentless fear does to human biology and creating meaningful services to address it.
Britain deserves more than politicians with fancy manifestos. Nothing short of truthful action will make a 14-year-old feel safe enough to relinquish their knife.
Marcus Kerr – web developer who grew up amid London gangs
KNIFE crime – it seems difficult for politicians and social commentators to ignore the seemingly disproportionate numbers of black males involved. But is it really that relevant?
Martin Luther King talked about the paralysis of analysis – and observations and comments about violent black males and absent black dads can indeed take us down the road leading to nowhere.
It feels as though we are in the hospital oncology department waiting for the consultant to identify the cancer and then discover there is nothing they can do about it.
The media may tell us that the victim was a black male and the perpetrator was also black. “Yes, and then what!“ we retort.
Arguably there is a point of concern that the numbers of black males as victims and perpetrators of serious youth violence is disproportionate.
But this only matters if we are more concerned about how this solves the problem, as opposed to providing us with an opportunity to point the finger in the blame game.
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When one considers the risk factors prevalent in violent behaviours across the UK, and indeed across the world, the racial component and correlation does come into play.
So I ask myself, why is it that certain racial groups and cultures are more exposed to these risk factors? Poverty, environment, exposure and experience, housing, lack of opportunities, school exclusion and education.
Deal with these and you find solutions.
The Sun Says
POLITICIANS are quick to peddle solutions to the knife crime crisis.
Maybe they should listen harder to the real experts — the panel of youth workers and ex-gang members we assembled last year for our Beat the Blades initiative.
There is no easy solution. More police officers, the use of stop and search, tougher sentences are a big part of it.
But deeper, long-term fixes on school exclusions, community resources and social problems are also clearly needed.
Those in power must act on these demands.
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