Youth parliamentarians target knife crime

Following the ballot, UK Youth Parliament has launched its Action Against Knife Crime campaign, which aims to focus the minds of policymakers after 37 children and young people died in this way in England and Wales last year.

The organisation is demanding that the government combats knife violence through education in schools and community groups.
 
It is working in partnership with No Knives, Better Lives - an initiative aiming to deter young people from carrying knives - to get the message out.

Members of Youth Parliament (MYPs) are also calling for the government to review its current approach, after what they claimed as failed attempts to use increased stop and search to address knife crime rates.

In November 2018, the Centre for Crime and Justice published research concluding that stop and search had no real impact on levels.

MYP Busayo Oyedoyin, who has been campaigning on the issue in her Hackney constituency, called for knife crime to be categorised as a public health issue to "allow different agencies and services to come together to tackle the issue properly".

This is in line with the approach of the Youth Violence Commission, which consults across the sector to develop policy on youth violence, as well as that of the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Oyedoyin said: "Mental and physical health, education, youth services, social media and community outreach must be prioritised to tackle the issues underpinning knife crime.

"The government must do everything in its power to address this issue promptly."
 
MYPs are due to meet with their local MPs over the coming weeks in an attempt to drive change at a parliamentary level.

Emily Beever, senior development officer at YouthLink Scotland, which has been running No Knives, Better Lives for nearly a decade, said: "It will be amazing to see Members of Youth Parliament up and down the country engaging with this campaign and influencing decision makers."

Beever added that "we know young people are passionate about making change in their communities and stopping knife crime".

Some 1.1 million young people declared knife crime a top concern in the UK Youth Parliament's Make Your Mark ballot.

The organisation also said it is to reignite its campaign for a lower voting age of 16.