On Friday 1st March, a girl in London was hanging out with her friend at her local park where unexpectedly, she then would be approached by her killers.

On the same day, she would also die at 9.30pm whilst being surrounded by her family, friends and her boyfriend, trying to prevent the consequences of their loved one dying.

But that was unfortunately inevitable.

She is now the 18th teenager to be stabbed in the UK this year and the 5th teenager to die from knife crime this year also.

Last week, another man was also stabbed outside of a train station in East London.

But its not just London that is happening the most, it’s also happening in other major cities in England such as Manchester, where another teenager was also fatally stabbed on the exact same day of the 2nd March reporting, which occurred with outskirts of Manchester in Hale Barns.

According to The BBC, knife crime has been on an all time high ever since the knife crimes started to be recorded in 1946.

So why had this been on the rise despite the majority of teenagers going into further or higher education and the decrease of drugs and alcohol usage in young people?

In the article by the BBC, it suggests that today’s youth are using or carrying knives so that they are able to protect themselves from harms.

Others have also suggested that it’s due to the “Road man” persona and image popularized by Grime artists such as Stormzy, Skepta and Lethal Bizzle or that society emphasizes on the male image that they must being tough, strong, emotional and self assured.

However, according to the Financial Times, this maybe largely blamed due to the cuts in Health and Social care services such as Social workers, Police force and those with SEN needs (Special Educational Needs) and therefore supports services for prevention of teens going into poverty and/or crime has decreased.

It also mentioned on how the third of youth services such as clubs and after school facilities have dropped to £416 million from the original spending of £622 million.

This has lead to many teenagers who come from less privileged backgrounds have come to entertain themselves differently in their spare time such as doing illegal activity such as the “county lines” where young people are travelling to rural areas from cities such as London and Manchester to give drugs (similar to a courier service) and therefore has contributed to the 75% increase of drug dealing in two years.

Within last year, over 40,000 offences were included with knives or sharp weapons alone.

But yet no minimal progress has been currently done to prevent such tragedies.

So what can we do to prevent ourselves from knife crime?

Many have suggested that this maybe due to areas with high crime areas don’t often report crime and therefore its recommended that people who have heard or seen the crime should contact 999 as this can save lives. Another technique is that if an individual notices someone with a knife and feels that they are going to be attacked, the advice is run away from the scene as soon as possible and call 999 in any safe place but also may be advisable if possible to be sure that people are within the area as that the perpetrator may likely to avoid the scene due to most likely being caught within the crime scene if they carried on.

Teachers and Schools should also provide informed and detailed lessons within PSHE lessons on crimes and weapons since that it can benefit teenagers and children from being harmed, understanding and knowing the risks of someone being harmed.

Another way is that as the majority of young people are not given a choice to had a say within politics (due to legal age of voting is 18) and therefore this maybe a crucial time for young people to start petitions to their local MP in regarding of the issue that could affect the majority of the young population with 5 years as statistics have predicted that this will likely to increase and as with young people have more of a say now due to social media, this can put pressure onto the government and MPs to ensure safety for young people and put pressure to put legislations to help young people from unnecessary harm.