Since the begining of the year we have seen a rise in the number of youth being stabbed in the UK.
This trend started to become more popular in big urban cities such as London or Birmingham, but this epidemic has expanded to all areas of the UK. This could be attributed to the introduction of the scoreboard, a ranking system for youths who are normally associated with gang activates. The points system works that different areas of the body will be a given a different score. With the arm being worth 10 points and stabbing someone in the Head will get the individual 50 points.
Police are struggling to contain knife crime related attacks, which rose on average of 45.7 per cent in England and Welsh between 2010 and 2018. Knife crime has continued to spiral out of control in Britain with at least 100 people stabbed to death so far this year.
No one really knows the single reason why this has seen such a hike in theses numbers. Some are putting it down to the introduction of mainstream “Drill” music. The latest genre of music that the youths are using to express themselves.
It’s tempting to think that it’s just gangs in London and our other biggest cities that are the cause of rising violence. In Kent, it grew by over 150 per cent, and in Hertfordshire and Staffordshire by around 88 per cent. That compares with a rise of 11 per cent in London over the same period. But shocking figures demonstrating how far and wide this disease has spread must be a wake-up call for the police, the Home Office and the Cabinet.
As music can also offer financial reward, for “Black” Londoners who are among the poorest ethnic groups in the city (35% classed as low-paid) many are looking for a legal way out.
The surge is also blamed in part on the spread of so-called county lines drug gangs.
Nonetheless, because of the way that UK drill is networked via social media, leading some listeners to believe that they are the subjects of the taunting lyrics, there are valid worries that drill is not just reflecting criminality, but driving it.
Before he was killed in a knife attack in Camberwell, drill rapper Incognito real name Sidique Kamara, from south-east London’s Moscow17, admitted in an interview that the genre “does influence” violent crime, but said it had been used as an excuse by authorities who had failed to provide opportunities for young people.
“There (are) many ways to solve it – you can bring out youth clubs, you can bring out many other things, invest money in other things to help the community, but you don’t want to do that – you just want to use an excuse with drill music,” he said.
We at Wainwright and Cummins LLP are trying to support the decline of knife crime in the local area. Our members of staff have given information about the dangers of carrying a knife and what are your options when the police arrest you. If you want some legal advice for any area of knife crime we are happy to help.
Get in contact with us on the phone 020 7737 9339, our helpful and dedicated team are awaiting your call.
