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Waterloo, London: Tsehainesh Medhani, left, the mother of murdered teenager Arsema
Dawit, is comforted by her niece, Mili Isak. Dawit was stabbed up to 10 times on June 2
in the elevator of the apartment building where she lived with her family. (AP)
Dawit, is comforted by her niece, Mili Isak. Dawit was stabbed up to 10 times on June 2
in the elevator of the apartment building where she lived with her family. (AP)
British Teens Continue Stabbing Each Other to Death
by
findingDulcinea Staff
With a surge of young people carrying knives in Great Britain, teen deaths on London’s streets continue despite increased government efforts to curb the “knife culture.”
30-Second Summary
Crimes involving knives are up drastically in Britain, and the average age of the offenders is getting younger. Scotland Yard Deputy Assistant Commissioner Alf Hitchcock described “a worrying change in the age profile of offenders and victims, which has decreased … down to early to mid-teens.”
The BBC reported in June that efforts to curb the trend of knife crimes among Britain's youth included the prosecution of anyone 16 and over found carrying a knife. The British government has also launched massive antiknife media campaigns for TV, radio and Internet to try to deter youth from participating in what is being called a burgeoning “knife culture.”
The continued stabbings among teens on Britain’s streets—often in broad daylight—have some experts describing knives as the latest necessity for young people; some sport them for fashion purposes, while others wear them for protection.
A study of 28 countries found last year that 13 percent of violent crime victims in England and Wales had been stabbed or threatened with a knife, according to The Times of London.
The recent fatal stabbing of 18-year-old actor Robert Knox, who appears in the upcoming movie Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, has brought further attention to the phenomenon.
But despite growing public concern, some Brits wonder whether the numbers really add up. “This is certainly not the first time that the issue of young people carrying—and using—knives has hit the headlines, but a glut of high-profile murders in a relatively short space of time has heightened fears,” wrote Haroon Siddique in the Guardian.
The Economist compares the knife craze to a recent rash of youth suicides in the Welsh town of Bridgend. “Emotional tributes and alarmist news coverage are now believed to have provided unwitting encouragement, by adding romance to the miserable business of dying young.”
The BBC reported in June that efforts to curb the trend of knife crimes among Britain's youth included the prosecution of anyone 16 and over found carrying a knife. The British government has also launched massive antiknife media campaigns for TV, radio and Internet to try to deter youth from participating in what is being called a burgeoning “knife culture.”
The continued stabbings among teens on Britain’s streets—often in broad daylight—have some experts describing knives as the latest necessity for young people; some sport them for fashion purposes, while others wear them for protection.
A study of 28 countries found last year that 13 percent of violent crime victims in England and Wales had been stabbed or threatened with a knife, according to The Times of London.
The recent fatal stabbing of 18-year-old actor Robert Knox, who appears in the upcoming movie Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, has brought further attention to the phenomenon.
But despite growing public concern, some Brits wonder whether the numbers really add up. “This is certainly not the first time that the issue of young people carrying—and using—knives has hit the headlines, but a glut of high-profile murders in a relatively short space of time has heightened fears,” wrote Haroon Siddique in the Guardian.
The Economist compares the knife craze to a recent rash of youth suicides in the Welsh town of Bridgend. “Emotional tributes and alarmist news coverage are now believed to have provided unwitting encouragement, by adding romance to the miserable business of dying young.”
Headline Link: ‘Britain grapples with surge in knife attacks’
On Friday an 18-year-old in south London became the city’s 21st teenager to die of violence this year. “We have seen the emergence of a worrying trend in relation to knife crime,” said Alf Hitchcock of the Scotland Yard. In 2007 there were 22,151 recorded offenses involving knives in Britain. “Most of this violence going on is not related to other criminality, is not related to fights over drug territory or anything like that,” crime researcher Douglas Sharp said, “it’s to do with fairly mundane disagreements that just get out of hand very quickly.”
Source: Arab Times (AFP)
Video: Antiknife TV campaign
The Metropolitan police recently launched a TV campaign to address the issue. One such ad can be viewed on YouTube.
Source: YouTube
Background: British knife crimes rise; government takes action
The Times reported in 2007 that Scotland followed England and Wales in knife crimes, whereas the United States reported a drop in knife crime, according to the study conducted by John van Kesteran, a law professor at Tilburg University in Holland.
Source: The Times of London
The British government launched a massive crime shock campaign in May to deter youth from committing knife crimes. The advertisements will run on radio, Web sites and mobile phones and were developed and written by young people who have themselves been affected by the phenomenon.
Source: Reuters
In June, the Birtish government lowered the age limit for prosecution of knife crimes from 18 to 16. Previously, only adults were normally prosecuted and children under 18 were given warnings. “It has become fashionable [to carry a knife]. What we want people to understand is they put themselves at risk carrying these sorts of weapons,” said Sir Ken Macdonald QC, Britain’s director of public prosecutions.
Source: The BBC
Opinion & Analysis: ‘Have you carried a knife?’
Haroon Siddique asked last month in The Guardian whether knife crime has really escalated. The British Crime Survey found that knife crime is down overall since 1995, but has risen in the past few years. But youths under 16, thought to be a significant factor in the rise of knife crimes, were not included in the survey.
Source: The Guardian
The British government needs to start enforcing existing laws on knife carrying, writes Stephen Pollard. Only nine of the 6,314 people convicted of carrying a knife were given a maximum sentence in 2006, and most were given only a caution, writes Stephen Pollard. "And I would bet a small fortune on not one of those nine criminals—0.14 percent of those convicted—actually being made to serve the full sentence they were given," Pollard said.
Source: The Times (of London)
"It may be that knife carrying, and the violence that goes with it, is basically a copycat craze," reports The Economist magazine.
Source: The Economist
Related Topic: Knife crime in Canada
The Vancouver province reported last month a "fairly typical" weekend, during which two men were stabbed to death in the cities of Abbotsford and Penticton. "Despite the publicity surrounding gun violence, knives seem to be the weapon of choice for young rowdies. And not just in this province."
Source: Canada.com (The Vancouver Province)
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