Fatal stabbings at record levels

FATAL stabbings are at their highest level since records began more than 70 years ago.

In the year to March 2018 there were 285 killings in England and Wales where a knife or sharp instrument was used – an increase of 73 on the previous year.

The number of male victims rose by 38 per cent to 222 and 63 female victims were recorded – a year-onyear increase of 24 per cent.

The number of hospital admissions for stab-related injuries also rose by 15 per cent, according to the Office for National Statistics.

A total of 726 homicides were recorded in the 12 months to March last year – 20 more than in the previous year.

John Apter, chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, said: “These figures show that homicide in this country is rising at an alarming rate, with a huge rise in stabbing-related deaths and a massive increase in the number of young victims. The Government has a duty to protect its citizens and is failing to do so – failing a generation.”

Diana Fawcett of charity Victim Support said the crisis is “shattering communities”.

Last week Home Secretary Sajid Javid announced plans to introduce new knife crime prevention orders which could even be imposed on suspects as young as 12. HOMICIDE by stabbing increased dramatically last year, especially of young men by young men. The increase was 34 per cent in the overall population and 78 per cent among young black men. The question is, why?

There are both individual and general causes. Young men are usually very sensitive to insult or what they perceive as such. They are anxious to save face in front of their peers and fear humiliation. Humiliation is a kind of social death, especially in a hierarchy such as a gang’s. It is kill or be killed – at least, that is what they believe.

Physical dominance is the only kind that they know. They emerge from a social background in which the older men are often irresponsible, if they are present at all. The culture in which they grow up is one which encourages violence. You have only to listen to the words of a few rap songs to realise the esteem in which the crudest violence is held.

Young people have come to believe in their own impunity and are not entirely wrong. Although Britain has among the highest number of prisoners in Western Europe, it has one of the lowest rates of imprisonment for violent crime. The majority of perpetrators have learned that there are no serious consequences.

We have created the perfect recipe to encourage homicide by young men: family breakdown, absence of male authority, lack of police, a culture glorifying violence and impunity.