Citizenship on a Knife Edge
There is nothing new about knife crime. Sharp objcts and blades have been used as weapons for thousands of years, but we have moral panic now about knife crime. Statistics from England and Wales that show that knife crime is risng again after a period of decline and this has created a social and political crisis that seems to demand action. So as citizens what should we be doing about knife crime?
Knife crime statistics
It depends on how we frame the debate . Acoording to mainsteam media the problem is growing rapidly and should be a huge concern , especially for those defined as members of the Black and Ethnic Minority Community (BAME) . BAME communities are depicted as being more likely to be members of gangs and are suspected as being perpetrators of gang related violent crime, despite the fact they are more likely in turn to be victims in the recent spate of knife crime. Specifically across London it has been BAME individuals who have suffered most. Community action groups and citizen organisations are now waking up to the realities of the problem, which has so far found no solution. Responses so far as seen by the statistics have been inadequate and quite clearly have not worked and I am arguing amosst other things this is the result of deep-rooted political and social inequality and injustice. Time has come to enact meaningful change to prevent the escalation of the violence – not only do the Government need to tackle the issue head on but meaningful action needs to be taken by and on behalf of the hard to reach members of communities, but will campaigns succeed?
To campaign or not campaign
From a citizen’s perspective there are interesting reactions to the knife crime issues. The Youth Parliament has launched a campaign. According to surveys over a million young people have nominated knife crime as one of their major concerns. Through initiatives such as the ‘make your mark ballot’ and ‘Action against knife crime’ the Youth Parliament had demanded that the government combat violence through projects in schools and community groups in the UK. The Youth Parliament are working with an initiative in Scotland called the ‘no knives, better lives’ campaign that aims to deter young people from carrying knives
Members of the Youth Parliament
However, for far too long government action has been ineffective. We need a long-term evidence-based approach to get a real grip on gang culture and youth violence. Concentrating on the knife related crime is missing the issues connected to youth behaviour. The problem is in the lack of civic engagement caused by social breakdown and disadvantage found in communities throughout the UK not just London where the stories make the headlines. The police and other agencies need to support and have the power to protect citizens affected by gang behaviour and bring the violence under control but the distrust of officials amongst certain young people is high and engaging them through formal agencies is difficult. In the case of police and criminal action the danger of criminalisation is high and incarceration risks beginning a pattern of re-offending further alienating the very people we are supposed to be helping. Responses so far are the usual story of addressing the symptoms rather than the causes. The lack of engagement with civil society is just the outcome of an upbringing that society has created.
Many members of violent gangs have similar social profiles. From a sociological perspective various explanation can be offered to explain the causes of such anti-social behaviour. We can point to the breakdown of the traditional family model where positive role models may be in short supply. Many young people are subjected to domestic violence which often comes from drug and alcohol dependent adults and siblings. Such experiences create low levels of parental involvement and the absence of positive rituals and rules about behaviour leave a vacuum that gang rules fill. Older gang members thereby become viewed as authority figures and allegiances are to them and not parents and adult figures who they cannot trust. All of this is underpinned by ‘failure’ at school where self-perceptions are formed of not being intelligent enough. In the street however these young people can excel within the group and gain admiration through their activities. Low paid work is often the best many alienated and educationally failed youth can expect and it is not surprising that they reject it in favour of some quick money through supplying drugs. Recreational choices such as joining civic groups do not emerge in a mind-set of us and them. Peer-pressure plays a big role in discouraging many young people from joining in. It is not cool to be seen as part of something that is designed for you and many young people cannot conceive of or access the opportunities in the wider world they live in. It is not surprising perhaps in a hostile world some youth carry knives for protection, self-esteem and a sense of power.
Whose engagement is it anyway?
I say note the reaction when young people actually do raise legitimate citizenship issues and we have to ask seriously whether young people’s opinions are actually valued. The climate protester were largely drawn from the relatively privileged classes and they were told by some that their views were not really wanted. So how do we expect the disadvantaged to participate and engage as citizens constructively.