Whose responsibility is it to tackle youth knife crime?

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) last month revealed knife crime in the year to September 2018 rose by eight per cent to 39,818 offences with 29 out of 43 police forces reporting an increase. Research recently carried out by the all-party parliamentary group on knife crime showed a 56 per cent rise in exclusions in England since 2014 and one in three councils having no space in pupil referral units (PRU) in the UK, leading some to make a direct causal link between school exclusions and the rise in youth violence.

At Redthread, we see youth violence as a health issue which, therefore, should be treated in the same way as a disease. This must start with an analysis of the causes, before going on to diagnose the problem, look at what works to treat the symptoms and develop solutions. Permanently excluding young people from school is not the root cause of why some become involved in violence, however their behaviour in school should be viewed as a symptom of the challenges they face and the vulnerabilities they experience.