Tackling knife crime

[CagedRaven]

AIBU to think our politicians need to do more to tackle knife crime?

Everyday, reports of stabbings in city centres, on public transport, near schools, unprovoked attacked, victims being young, old, black, white, brown, male, female. It just seems that it's so commonplace now.

How have we got here as a society? When I was young this would be a rarity and would make national headlines for days. Now its normalised.

Why isnt anybody doing anything about it?

My kids are all well aware of knife crime through my work. It's the saddest wing to work on! Youth offenders

Most social services have entire teams dedicated to this type of issue but politicians don’t want to put money into what would actually help at the source. It’s worse than it used to be because of years of conservative cuts so if you want to know why it’s worse and what’s Changed that is it, I’ve watched it over the last 10 years alone

@QuestionableMouse poverty and poor education has always existed.

Well yes, I dont think 13 years of tories and their austerity measures have helped society at all.

Gang culture, county lines....

Violent crime is falling in some areas

https://www.statista.com/statistics/617782/violent-crimes-scotland/#:~:text=Number%20of%20violent%20crimes%20in%20Scotland%202002%2D2023&text=In%202022/23%20there%20were,of%2061%2C913%20in%202020/21.

@GirrlCrush so what happens to those youth offenders? Do they go on to reoffend or do most turn their lives around?

You see, I feel like preventing the crime from happening in the first place would be better overall.

Thank you @Cheeseplantalltheway for the links. I'd wager that it is rising in others.

Some things are improving in some areas

Reduction in homicide and violence in Scotland is ... https://www.research.aqmen.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2020/02/S-Skott-Types-of-Homicide-28.1.19.pdf

Metal detectors and bag searches at the entrances to schools would work. As well as armed police presence outside. Parents required to collect children from school. No more children walking or bussing or training home alone.

Most of those solutions are undesirable or impractical though.

It needs a public health approach imho

Of course preventing crime in the first place is the better option....same can be said for any crime

So how would parents manage that in balance with work?

I work shifts... can't just drop it all to pick up my 15 year old everyday

Armed police at all schools?

Apologies, quoted wrong poster.

@MissPepperoni that does seem draconian. Also what about knife crime on the streets? Outside of schools etc.

I feel like those measures normalise the situation of people carrying knives.

OP, yes poverty has been around for ages but the gap between rich and poor is larger than ever. Couple that with both parents working and rampant consumerism that tells people that anyone can have anything - is a fishbowl of disaster. The ongoing lack of respect for authority does not help

I live in one of the London boroughs worst affected by knife crime.

The one unifying factor in virtually all knife crime cases is boys with no fathers at home.

It's all very well focusing on youth services and police cuts (and yes, these are important), but it's like putting a plaster on a gaping wound. The problem starts on the most basic building block of society, from within the family. So the government could start by ceasing their tirade against the family unit.

I know this is a profoundly unpopular opinion and goes against the fundamental MN relationships narrative. But I've looked at the evidence, and I strongly believe this is true. Boys need fathers. No amount of sociological acrobatics will change that.

@Inca22 so it poses the bigger question of how do we have a societal shift away from those things.

The gap between rich and poor could be sorted if collectively we put our minds to it. I realise theres too many selfish people on the planet though.

There are various things being done, as others have said, but it's a piecemeal, localized approach.

I think escalating knife and violent crime is indicative of an increasingly anti authority society, with many young people being extremely challenging in schools, with no real consequences for their behaviour. I don't call isolation a proper deterrent. (I have just read an upsetting thread about a boy being relentlessly bullied at his secondary school).

The recent trend of gentle parenting isn't helping either.

The drug dealers in our estate carried knives, but they were white and only hurt each other so got away with it for ages. Took five years to get them banged up.

FWIW my 17yr old is a police cadet and they were out with metal detectors last week looking for discarded knives in parks. They also did test purchasing and luckily every shop passed and asked for ID.

1. Parents. Don't try and tell me you don't know your kid carries a knife - especially if it's one of those Rambo serrated bastards.

1. Peers. If one kid arms himself then it starts.

1. The Law. If someone kills another person - however young - life means till death. No possibility of parole.

I agree with 1 & 2, but not 3.

No more children walking or bussing alone?
I don’t think that’s the answer to knife crime.