Knife crime in London has increased by 16 percent in the past year, and there have been the highest number of knife crimes since 2011. In about two in every five killings, the victim is fatally assaulted with a sharp object or stabbed to death. In June this year 20,113 people were convicted of having a knife and 4,291 of them were under the age of 18.
Knife crimes seem to be more common in cities, around 55 percent of knife crimes last year happened in London, Manchester and Birmingham. This is due to lack of funding for the police force but also the rise in knife crime itself has encouraged others to carry knives with them for protection and self-defence. This can lead to more and more people getting stabbed.
There is a large increase in youths carrying knives for self-defence or to scare off any possible threats without actually using the weapon. It's said that almost 75 percent of people caught with knives on them are not actually linked to gangs. The Youth Violence Commission is working with the police and children to try and find a solution to the problem, for example enforcing policies such as Stop and Search and introducing more youth clubs around the city. In London 95 percent of those caught with a knife were male and 60 percent were under 25. There is also a problem with the lack of harsh punishment for knife crimes. If teenagers aren't properly punished for what they have done then no lesson has been learned and they will just carry on as they were.
Many gang members are involved in knife crimes and the fact that young people join gangs to feel as if they are safe and have a group of people to protect them is a concern. But this can also lead to a life of crime.
In my opinion knife crime is wrong and the constant increase should make the police administer harsher punishments on people who commit these offences; This will hopefully force young people to think more carefully about carrying a weapon, and, if not, punish those who do.
