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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/04/the-guardian-view-on-knife-crime-policing-alone-wont-cut-it
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| The Guardian view on knife crime: policing alone won’t cut it | The Guardian view on knife crime: policing alone won’t cut it |
| (2 months later) | |
| The shocking death of Tanesha Melbourne-Blake, a 17-year-old shot from a car as she stood with friends in a Tottenham street, has highlighted the alarming rise in violence in the capital this year. At present rates, London is on course to have more murders than in any year since 2005. The local MP, David Lammy, has blamed the rise in violence squarely on drug gangs and inequality: the consumption of cocaine among the white middle classes has been virtually decriminalised, he says, but the import and distribution, where the impact is felt more by poor black youths, involves increasing amounts of violence. | The shocking death of Tanesha Melbourne-Blake, a 17-year-old shot from a car as she stood with friends in a Tottenham street, has highlighted the alarming rise in violence in the capital this year. At present rates, London is on course to have more murders than in any year since 2005. The local MP, David Lammy, has blamed the rise in violence squarely on drug gangs and inequality: the consumption of cocaine among the white middle classes has been virtually decriminalised, he says, but the import and distribution, where the impact is felt more by poor black youths, involves increasing amounts of violence. |
| In the case of knife crime, which overwhelmingly involves young men and boys, the link with gangs is debatable: two years ago the Metropolitan police argued that most of it arose from individuals who carry knives for the status and the false sense of security it gives them. And while the incidence of violent crimes has risen in London, cuts to local government spending have meant that the social programmes that can help support young people and their families are withdrawn. There are signs that the Conservatives are attempting to turn this into a problem associated with the Labour mayor, Sadiq Khan, ahead of the local elections where they are likely to do badly. | In the case of knife crime, which overwhelmingly involves young men and boys, the link with gangs is debatable: two years ago the Metropolitan police argued that most of it arose from individuals who carry knives for the status and the false sense of security it gives them. And while the incidence of violent crimes has risen in London, cuts to local government spending have meant that the social programmes that can help support young people and their families are withdrawn. There are signs that the Conservatives are attempting to turn this into a problem associated with the Labour mayor, Sadiq Khan, ahead of the local elections where they are likely to do badly. |
| Certainly, the presentation of “knife crime” in the media is overwhelmingly racialised, in a way that reflects patterns in London but not in the rest of the country. In England outside London black youths are not a majority in the statistics, and in Scotland things are different again, after a sustained effort across society diminished knife crime in a country that was until recently the most physically violent in western Europe. | Certainly, the presentation of “knife crime” in the media is overwhelmingly racialised, in a way that reflects patterns in London but not in the rest of the country. In England outside London black youths are not a majority in the statistics, and in Scotland things are different again, after a sustained effort across society diminished knife crime in a country that was until recently the most physically violent in western Europe. |
| What might a more sensible response look like? The approach that has worked in Scotland is to treat knife crime as a public health problem, analogous to a contagious disease. It is necessary to stop it spreading and then to attack the conditions in which it thrives. To treat this as a public health problem is not to deny the responsibility of individual criminals. No one forces them to carry knives, or to stab with them, whether recklessly or really intending to kill. But the likelihood of acting on such urges is influenced by all sorts of factors. In particular, the frightening thought that they might be attacked with a knife prompts many young men to arm themselves in self-defence, in a grim echo of one of the dynamics that drives American gun culture. Just as with gun culture, it turns out that carrying in a weapon makes you more likely to have one used against you. What looks like a win for the individual becomes in fact a loss for everyone. | What might a more sensible response look like? The approach that has worked in Scotland is to treat knife crime as a public health problem, analogous to a contagious disease. It is necessary to stop it spreading and then to attack the conditions in which it thrives. To treat this as a public health problem is not to deny the responsibility of individual criminals. No one forces them to carry knives, or to stab with them, whether recklessly or really intending to kill. But the likelihood of acting on such urges is influenced by all sorts of factors. In particular, the frightening thought that they might be attacked with a knife prompts many young men to arm themselves in self-defence, in a grim echo of one of the dynamics that drives American gun culture. Just as with gun culture, it turns out that carrying in a weapon makes you more likely to have one used against you. What looks like a win for the individual becomes in fact a loss for everyone. |
| This isn’t just a matter of individual morality. The likelihood of violent behaviour is hugely influenced by the norms of the societies in which young men move. To try to change these norms is only common sense. But it requires much more than just police action, and some police actions can be counterproductive. The Scottish experience shows clearly how important intelligence is when planning interventions into the sort of subculture that can normalise the carrying and use of knives; and intelligence comes only when people trust the police enough to talk to them. That is why the militarisation of the problem can be self-defeating. The police have to be respected, and even to some extent feared, but they can’t function if they are seen as an occupying power. Where the police ought to devote more effort, as David Lammy has pointed out, is attacking the organised criminals who use the fear and anger of young men for their own profit. | This isn’t just a matter of individual morality. The likelihood of violent behaviour is hugely influenced by the norms of the societies in which young men move. To try to change these norms is only common sense. But it requires much more than just police action, and some police actions can be counterproductive. The Scottish experience shows clearly how important intelligence is when planning interventions into the sort of subculture that can normalise the carrying and use of knives; and intelligence comes only when people trust the police enough to talk to them. That is why the militarisation of the problem can be self-defeating. The police have to be respected, and even to some extent feared, but they can’t function if they are seen as an occupying power. Where the police ought to devote more effort, as David Lammy has pointed out, is attacking the organised criminals who use the fear and anger of young men for their own profit. |
| Knife crime | Knife crime |
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| Metropolitan police | Metropolitan police |
| David Lammy | David Lammy |
| Crime | Crime |
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| Sadiq Khan | Sadiq Khan |
| editorials | editorials |
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