How can our politicians understand blade culture?

Even as the government scrambles to act on knife crime, it is ignoring the real experts – young people

New proposals to tackle knife crime demonstrate just how little ministers know about the context our kids are operating in.

Young people don't get involved with crime because they don't know the consequences; in many cases, it's precisely because they do know the consequences that they carry a blade.

When you know just how bad a stab wound can be, you want to keep a knife close to your chest to have some credible threat of self-defence against others. This has been recognised by the government's own newly appointed lead on knife crime, Alf Hitchcock, who has said that 85% of young people who carry blades do so because they fear for their personal safety.

Many of these young people would give up their knives if they knew everyone else would. But when that can't be guaranteed, which kid is going to be the first to volunteer to walk unarmed?

Many young people who carry knives don't just know about the consequences second-hand. A few weeks ago I met a girl in a hospital recovering from a stab wound. Before her bandages had even been taken off, she was telling me how she was going to "get back" the girl who attacked her. Our hospital doors are revolving as the same kids repeatedly come back with the same problems.

Why? It's not because they don't know the consequences of knife crime; it's because they are caught up in systems that they feel don't offer them any alternatives.

If someone attacks you, you can feel under pressure to get them back regardless of the consequences. This is a concept that should be familiar to policy-makers as well as gang members. If Iran nuked a city in the UK, the government would be under pressure to bomb them back to ensure credibility. It would know the consequences would be devastating, but if you don't get someone back, what kind of message are you sending about what others can get away with?

These contexts need to be understood before we can begin to create a society where young people feel free to put down their knives.


Labour's policy may even be a good one for educating very young kids who haven't yet become entangled in these webs of fear and retribution, but for those stuck inside them, it is unlikely to help.

With 20 teenagers killed in violent crimes in London alone this year, the government is under pressure to do something drastic. Politicians are rattling about in Westminster wringing their hands, but ultimately they don't understand why this is happening and they don't know what to do about it.

The answer? Bring in those who do. The kids who have to live with the reality of knife crime are the experts here. Young people who have been shocked by the headlines or known the victims want to challenge this trend. They have already been on marches, organised demonstrations and set up Facebook groupssuch as "Stop our young people killing each other".

Politicians need to open the doors of Westminster, let these kids in and find out what young people need to put down their knives. Why not get kids to bid for funding for policies that they believe will help solve the problem in their area? Instead of shooting out policies in the dark, let our young people help shed some light on this tragic situation, and get some proper policies in place to stop it.