Teach good values and behaviour sooner COMMENT
CHILDREN are not born with a knife in their hands. It is learned behaviour.
In Scotland, where we have seen the greatest successes, authorities are doing three things really well.
There is a lot of work around prevention, so making sure young people are given the correct messages and steered away from negative perceptions is vital.
Intervention is imperative if someone has started drifting towards crime.
Also enforcement should be strong. In Scotland they do everything they can to help people, but if they fall foul, that’s it. They come down very hard on you.
It is all part of a strategy. The last time I checked, the average custodial sentence for carrying a knife in England was eight months, while in PATRICK GREEN Scotland it was 15 months. Having strong enforcement sends out a message that we are going to do something. If you are going to threaten someone with a knife – you are going to go to prison.
At the moment we wait for a young person to make a mistake before we intervene.
No one has been talking to young people about good values, good behaviour and we want to do that at a much earlier stage. Even young people in primary schools haveBaylreNaadmy geyotHerey misconceptions about what is acceptable and they may decide to carry a knife to protect themselves.
You can’t arrest your way out of this, but you need strong enforcement.
Just doing one of these things doesn’t work. Good education will lower the number of people who go on to offend and that means you can use your resources better for intervention and enforcement.
Violence is not eradicated but history shows us you are able to reduce it.
Politicians from both sides have realised we need to bring forward real change to address the issue.
We are no longer just relying on stop and search and the police are now using a number of different tactics.