The increase in knife crime has risen its head again, creating a worrying situation where senseless killings are taking place of young lives caught up in gang warfare which is cause by youth unemployment among the ethnic minority groups. This is a sorry state of affairs where youth in the community have no sports, youth centres and learning music facilities to occupy their time in a constructive way.
In London the capital city this year from January to March 11 young men have been stabbed to death. These killings are taking place all over the London region. The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has given assurances that he is taking serious youth violence and knife crime in the London “extremely seriously”. He also outlined proposals to tackle knife crime across the capital as part of a strategy which will be published in June. Schools and communities will also have a role in knife crime prevention and early intervention.
The Office for National Statistics said knife offences rose by 23 per cent in the capital - meaning it now has a higher murder rate than New York.
There were 37,443 recorded knife offences and 6,694 recorded gun offences in the year up to September 2017.
In London the problem was even more pronounced than the rest of the country, with 12,980 knife crimes taking place in the capital 2,452 more than the equivalent year.
Four teenagers were stabbed to death in London on New Year's Eve alone, and 22 were killed in March alone - making London deadlier than New York.
The US city had a mere 21 killings in comparison. Commander Neil Jerome of the Met's territorial policing command condemned the crimes, saying the four families had lost a loved one to "senseless violence and the callous use of knives as lethal weapons".
Britain’s top police officer has blamed social media for the soaring rate of knife crime in the UK, particularly among children.
Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said websites and mobile apps such as YouTube, Snapchat and Instagram were partially to blame for the bloodshed. Speaking to the Times after 13 Londoners were killed in two weeks this month, Ms Dick blamed the internet for helping trivial disputes to escalate into violence “within minutes” as rivals goad each other.
The root cause of knife and gun crime is that young men when they do not have anything constructive or better to do and they see a bleak future in front of them because of racism, inequality and discrimination they are inextricably drawn to crime. These impediments have to be removed first to given these young men hope of a better life.
Baldev Sharma
Rayners Lane, Harrow
