by Dantes Odogwu
If there is one epidemic that lockdown has not prevented, it is knife crime. It is disheartening that the number of teenagers killed in London since the pandemic has reached its highest-ever level.
According to Action on Armed Violence, in 2021, London recorded the highest number of teenage homicides ever, with 30 male teenagers aged 14 to 19 being killed. In 2021, 74.4% of homicides in London were caused by a knife or sharp instrument.
London is a hotspot for knife crime, particularly among youths, and the recent increase in violence and murders around London shows that not enough has been done to combat the plague of knife crime in the metropolis.
“For youngsters, London is not the place to be. I am finding it difficult to raise my children in London. They learn so many negatives from their peer groups,” said James Anum, 59, a father of four who works as a concierge at the Maydew tower building.
“Sadly, the government is unconcerned. They appear to have forgotten that the people who are dying are people’s families and loved ones. They are only concerned with the upcoming elections than with the lives of ordinary people.”
Invest in young people
To combat violent crime, the government must invest in our young people, our communities, and our country, and more must be done to restore Londoners’ trust in the police and address the underlying structural prejudices that contribute to this disparity.
Despite accounting for only 13% of London’s overall population, black Londoners account for 45 per cent of knife murder victims, 61 per cent of knife crime murder perpetrators, and 53 per cent of knife crime perpetrators, according to the London Assembly.
These fatal stabbings have occurred – and keep occurring – in London even despite the pandemic-imposed lockdown.
This is not just a London issue, as violent crime is affecting many other cities in the UK. It often feels like to those in power, some people’s lives do not mean as much as others’.
Another death from the knife or gun crime is dismissed as “just another statistic,” and as a result, some people become desensitised to the true significance or tragedy of another person’s death, as well as the immediate and indirect effects these crimes have on the victims’ families and society.
Campaigners said efforts to tackle knife crime had been inadequate. According to Patrick Green, Chief Executive of the anti-knife crime charity the Ben Kinsella Trust, knife crime is accepted by this generation as part-and-parcel of growing up, which is completely unacceptable.
“The issue itself has never been properly tackled over the last 10 years or so. It is a societal problem. It is not a crime surge,” he said.
“It’s something that we’ve seen consistently over the last decade and the long-term measures that are needed to tackle the key drivers in knife crime just haven’t been tackled properly.”
Knife crime in England has leapt by as much as 90% in two years in some areas, according to new police data, which exceeds the previous high of 2008, despite a national lockdown.
“Poor parental upbringing is also a factor in the violent crimes in London,” said Favour Godfrey, 20, a member of the House of Praise in Camberwell. Parents are too preoccupied to keep track of their children’s activities.
“Youths will prefer to go to clubs and pubs rather than worship places, where they will learn morals and conventions that are no longer present in our varied households.”
The truth is the roots of violent crime are incredibly complicated, involving deep-seated issues like poverty, inequality, social alienation, and a lack of opportunities for young people. The surge will continue unless these core causes are addressed.
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