This study of teenage violent crime in Britain in 2008, extracted from a longer briefing paper published by the Institute of Race Relations, aims to provide a description of who was killed, by whom and in what circumstances — a factual description which has been largely missing from much media and political evaluation.
1 The majority of cases involving the death of a young person in 2008 have, at the time of writing, reached their conclusion in the courts, allowing for a more thorough understanding of what happened and who was involved. Cases from 2009 are still progressing through the courts and so it is less easy to draw conclusions. The Institute of Race Relations continues to collect data on these cases and also holds information on cases from before 2008. For more information, see Youth Deaths: the reality behind the ‘knife crime’ debate, IRR briefing paper no. 5 (Institute of Race Relations, 2009), <http://www.irr.org.uk/pdf2/IRR_Briefing_No.5.pdf>.
2.
2 ‘Mapping UK’s teen murder toll’, BBC News (15 December 2008), <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7777963.stm>.
3.
3 ‘Youth Crime: key measures’, BBC News (15 July 2008), <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7507713.stm> Alan Travis, ‘Youth crime: parents face fines and prison in government plan to reinforce young offenders’ sentences’ , Guardian (16 July 2008), <http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/jul/16/youthjustice.youngpeople1>.
4.
4 Home Office, ‘Tackling Knives Action Programme’, <http://www.crimereduction.homeoffice.gov.uk/tackling_knives.htm>. In March 2009, the Programme was extended with an extra £5 million of funding and a total of sixteen police forces included.
5.
5 ‘"Selective" knife figures blasted’, BBC News (12 December 2008), <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/ hi/uk_politics/7780057.stm>; Mark Easton, ‘More statistical fury’, BBC News (6 January 2009), <http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/markeaston/2009/01/more_statistical_fury. html>; Mark Easton, ‘More on the unchecked knife crime stats’, BBC News (5 February 2009), <http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/markeaston/2009/02/knife_crime.html>.
6.
6 ‘Knife crime’: a review of the evidence and policy (London, Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, December 2007); Young people and Gun and Knife Crime: a review of the evidence (London, Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, March 2009); Why Carry a Weapon? (Howard League for Penal Reform, 16 October 2008); Peter Squires and Carlie Goldsmith, ‘Bullets, blades and mean streets: youth violence and criminal justice failure’, School of Applied Social Science, University of Brighton, unpublished paper; A Tale of Two Englands - ‘Race’ and Violent Crime in the Press (London, Runnymede Trust, March 2008); Gus John, Black Parents Beware! What you need to know about the government’s REACH report and ‘role models’ for the Black communities - a critique (Communities Empowerment Network, London).
7.
7 A Tale of Two Englands, op. cit.
8.
8 Anti-knife and anti-gang initiatives have included the mooted introduction of ‘gangbos’ (new antisocial behaviour injunctions aimed at tackling teenage gang members and labelled a ‘gimmick’ by rights group Liberty) in the new Crime and Security Bill, the use of posters, websites and music videos (such as, ‘Don’t shank just skank’) as campaigning material, re-education programmes run by schools, colleges, doctors, nurses and police, anger management courses, role-model initiatives, family intervention schemes, anti-stab knives and gang-spotting guides for parents. Many of these initiatives are being run under the auspices of the Tackling Knives Action Programme, Youth Crime Action Plan and the Serious Youth Violence Action Programme.
9.
9 Greater London consists of the City of London plus thirty-two surrounding boroughs, divided into Inner and Outer London, <http://www.statistics.gov.uk/geography/downloads/london _boro.pdf>.
10.
10 Alan Travis , ‘Police figures show unexpected 8% drop in crime’, Guardian (21 January 2010 ), <http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jan/21/police-figures-unexpected-drop-crime> ‘Knife crime’, op. cit., Squires and Goldsmith, ‘Bullets, blades and mean streets’, op. cit.
11.
11 ‘Mapping UK’s teen murder toll’, op. cit.
12.
12 According to the Communities and Local Government’s Indices of Deprivation for England in 2007, <http://www.communities.gov.uk/communities/neighbourhoodrenewal/deprivation/ deprivation07>. These findings are supported by a group of MPs who found that victims and their attackers are ‘concentrated in the deprived parts of big cities’. 7th Report of Session 2008-9 of the Home Affairs Committee on Knife Crime (House of Commons, June 2009), p. 3.
13.
13 ‘Knife crime’, op. cit.
14.
14 Focus on London: 2009 Edition, Chapter 1: Population and Migration (Greater London Authority, 2009), <http://www.london.gov.uk/focusonlondon/docs/fol09-1-population.pdf>.
16 A Civilised Society: mental health provision forrefugees and asylum seekers in England and Wales (Mind, 2009). See also <http://www.irr.org.uk/2010/january/ha000010.html>.
17.
17 Getting a Move On: addressing the housing and support issues facing Londoners with mental health needs (Mayor of London’s Office, July 2003), <http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/ health/docs/health_mental.pdf>.
18.
18 Data Management and Analysis Group, Child Poverty in London - 2007 Update (Greater London Authority , June 2007), p. i, <http://www.london.gov.uk/gla/publications/factsandfigures/dmag-briefing-2007-09.pdf>.
19.
19 Ibid., pp. i-iv.
20.
20 Data Management and Analysis Group, Deprivation in London (Greater London Authority, December 2007), <http://www.london.gov.uk/gla/publications/factsandfigures/dmagupdate-2007-24.pdf>.
