Mon 7 Oct 2019, 04:11 AM | Posted by editor
LETTER from Mark Langabeer, Newton Abbot Labour Party
Panorama reporter, Chanell Wallace, investigated the prevalence of knives in England and Wales. Knife crime has cast a shadow over her own life. As an eleven-year-old, her older brother was murdered as a result of a knife attack. She asks the question, why do young people carry knives? It is estimated that 47,000 people carry a knife. Chanell interviews a 14 year old, who stated that he carried a knife out of fear and thought that it gave him protection.
Disturbingly, the carrying of knives has become normalized among many young people. She visits a youth club that runs first aid courses for dealing with victims of stabbings. Roughly 17,000 ten-to-fifteen year-olds carried knives and a survey conducted by the teaching union, NASUWT, gave a grim account of the scale of the problem. Of the 1,200 teachers responding to the survey,728 had found knives at school and 768 believed that this affects children’s mental health.
Chanell visits a school in Leyton East London that undertakes security checks that include the scanning of pupils with a metal detector. The school spends around £200,000 a year on security which has an impact on the provision of general education. Unfortunately, this kind of security is increasing in our schools and colleges. Particularly vulnerable are children that have been excluded from mainstream schools and are twice as likely to carry knives.
Finally, but not least, is the involvement of children in criminal gangs. It is estimated that 28,000 children have been involved in the three years prior to 2018. They are often victims of exploitation and encouraged to carry knives. A young guy stated that he joined a gang because of the lifestyle. He had turned away from gang life when he was arrested at the tender age of thirteen.
The only solutions offered by this Tory Government is longer prison sentences. Britain already has the largest prison population in Europe and there is little evidence that longer sentences will reduce crime. Crime is mainly rooted in poor social conditions. Although detection of criminal activity is important, only the eradication of poverty can reduce crime and the carrying of knives.
