Understanding UK Knife Crime Trends

Crime is an illegal act which is punishable by the law of the state or the country. In recent years, increased incidence of knife crime is been experienced within the UK leading to many deaths and murders. In relation to this, the key aim of the essay is to identify the contemporary ideas about crime related to knife crime incidences and the general trends prevailing regarding it within the UK.

The reason behind the selection of this topic is that in the UK the total number of offences that involved knife or other forms of blade instrument rose to 40,147 in 2018 that is higher than in the previous seven years. (www.thesun.co.uk, 2018). Thus, this alarming figure indicates that the incidences of knife crime have created greater chaos in the UK. However, 36% of an offensive weapon and knife crimes in the UK are seen to has resulted the individuals face immediate prison sentence with 11% being given caution (www.independent.co.uk, 2018). This informs that potential legal steps are being taken by the UK police but still there may be issues which are causing knife crime to increase at a massive rate as there are still incidences of knife crime being reported in and around the UK. It is evident as till April 2018 in London more than 1299 stabbings are being reported according to the official statistics of the Met Police out of which most of the criminals were youths (www.thesun.co.uk, 2018).

There are various reasons which are leading to knife crime in the UK out of which social media and drug dealing are referred to as potential causes for the rise of this nature of crime in the country. As mentioned by Deuchar (2014), drug dealing is itself illegal and they to protect themselves from being challenged by the police or being killed by members of rival gang uses knife to tackle the situation. This is evident from the account of Jamal who is a 12-year-old drug dealer informed that one of his members has been stabbed by knife being used by the rival gang in the borough they live during a quarrel (www.thesun.co.uk, 2018). Thus, rivalry between gangs as a result of increased drug dealing business in the UK are raising incidence of knife crime Moreover, knife is easily available at home and can be bought by any individual as it does not require any licence or proof (www.independent.co.uk, 2018). Thus, the easy availability of the knives has resulted police to face hindrance on controlling knife crimes at the UK as knife can be available to be used and bought by any individuals irrespective of their intention to protect or to harm.

The social media act as a potential reason behind the rising issue of knife crime in the UK the insults and threat in the online media make it harder for the young individuals to mentally bear the threat (Holligan, 2015). This is because in social media the insults of the individuals making them shameful in front of the world. Thus, to take revenge on other for the bully or threat or insult individuals in the UK are orienting towards using knife as an easily available weapon for causing crime. This is evident from the reports in 2017 where a 15-year-old youth named Jermaine Gopupall was knifed to death due to raised feud between rival gangs of posting mocking videos of one another on social media such as YouTube (www.theguardian.com, 2018). The knife crime in the UK may have also raised due to socio-economic issues such as carrying knife in poorer cities like Britain makes one feel powerful and gain respect from others (www.theguardian.com, 2017). Thus, individuals in the poorer cities are orienting to do knife crimes to inflict fear among the commoners and gain respect by using the fear as a weapon. The plummeting number of police officer over the years in the UK has been a potential cause for rising knife crimes. This is evident as it is been reported that there are 21,000 less police officers available in London (www.independent.co.uk, 2018). As mentioned by Desmond et al. (2016), police officers are required to ensure individuals are following the law. This is because it is their duty to control law and order in the city as well as in the country. As argued by Venema (2016), lack of police officers informs that there are lower numbers of lawmakers available to protect and prevent crimes. This results in making individuals feel free to make crimes of any form as they do not fear or feel barriers from the lawmakers for ending their criminal activities. Thus, the lower number of police officers in the UK has contributed to the increased rate of knife crimes as the criminals are not prevented through prior identification by the police.

In the UK, to reduce knife crime in the country the government has developed various policies. The first policy being introduced by the UK government is that they have implemented to add the maximum amount of financial penalty for carrying knife in public places along the criminals are to be charged with 2-4 years in prison (www.police.uk, 2018). The UK government has proposed that they are going to reduce the age for having knives to 16 from 18 and is going to offer full authority to the teachers at school to search for unsafe weapons (assets.publishing.service.gov.uk, 2018). This is going to help in reducing knife crimes in the UK to some extent as the fear of getting punished by the strict law would avoid individuals to cause crime. Moreover, youngsters above 16 who have restricted access to buying knives and any sharp instrument with the implementation of the new policy who face barriers to have instruments to cause crime. Thus, it would lead to reduce criminal activities to some extent. The other policy being developed by the UK government is introduction of finances for advertising for youth to inform them about the impact of knife crimes on individuals and their families (www.london.gov.uk, 2017). This is going to create awareness through emotion among the youth to inform them about the way they live as well as their families are shattered with their criminal act which may result to reduce knife crimes in the UK.

The above discussion informs that the knife crimes are at an alarming stage in the UK and they are mainly caused due to easy availability of knives, drug dealers, feud in social media, lower availability of police officers and others. The government has developed policies and awareness in this purpose to reduce knives crimes in the UK.

References

Desmond, M., Papachristos, A.V. and Kirk, D.S., 2016. Police violence and citizen crime reporting in the black community. American Sociological Review, 81(5), pp.857-876.

Deuchar, R., 2014. Policing Youth Violence Transatlantic connections. Scottish Institute for Policing Research, p.12.

Holligan, C., 2015. Disenfranchised violent young offenders in Scotland: using actor-network theory to explore an Aetiology of knife crime. Sociology, 49(1), pp.123-138.

Venema, R.M., 2016. Police officer schema of sexual assault reports: Real rape, ambiguous cases, and false reports. Journal of interpersonal violence, 31(5), pp.872-899.